Question: I was on a tour of historic homes recently and one of the tour guides showed us an old rope bed. He explained that the phrase "sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite" came from the practice of tightening the ropes for more support and from the bugs that infested the straw-filled mattresses. Is there any truth to this explanation of "sleep tight"?
Answer: The phrase "sleep tight" appears to have originated sometime in the late 19th century, but unfortunately not much more than that is known about it. The explanation you were given is a familiar one, but it lacks supporting historical evidence.
Certainly the practice of tightening the ropes on a bed to make it more comfortable is not in dispute. The ropes that supported the bedding would stretch and become slack as the bed was used. To keep the rope tight, a peg or other winding device was turned each night to tighten the ropes. Tightened ropes meant more comfort and a sound night's sleep. Many people believe that this led to the expression "sleep tight."
One problem with connecting the old practice of tightening ropes and the phrase "sleep tight" is that the phrase is not recorded before 1898, and the first known instance of its use as an expressed wish for someone going to bed was not until 1933. Parallel expressions such as "sleep well," "sleep soundly," and "sleep fast" all go back to the 15th century or earlier.
It is possible, of course, that evidence of 17th and 18th century use of "sleep tight" exists in diaries or other unpublished writings of the period and just hasn't been discovered yet.
On the other hand, if the use of "sleep tight" is actually of recent origin, as existing evidence suggests, it may be explained by the fact that "tight" seems to have been a word of fairly low frequency of occurrence, even as an adjective, until well into the 19th century.
Question: On the radio the other day I heard "there should be no bones made about the fact that . . ." Now I'm curious as to where the expression "make no bones" comes from. Can you enlighten me?
Answer: There are two theories about the origin of this expression. The first and more plausible has to do with actual bones - found in soup or stew back in the Middle Ages. At least as early as the 15th century, to "find no bones" in a situation was likened to finding no bones in one's bowl of soup, and meant "to confront no obstacles."
The first actual record of "making bones," as opposed to "finding bones," is from the mid-16th century in the form of the familiar negative "to make no bones," meaning "to create no obstacles" or "to make no objection." The theory is that the idea of "making bones" arose naturally from the figurative "finding bones." You can imagine someone who is making excuses and giving reasons why he or she thinks something can't be done being told, "Now you're just making bones!"
The second theory equates the "bones" with dice, which have been called bones since at least Geoffrey Chaucer's time, the 14th century. If some gamblers made a big deal about throwing their "bones" by mumbling good-luck charms over them and breathing on them (the way some still do), it could conceivably follow that "to make bones" was to do something with great hesitation.
However, since one of the very earliest examples of "make no bones" also refers figuratively to swallowing, the soup theory would seem more likely. Furthermore, the expression "make no bones" was at first used in highly literary contexts, a circumstance seemingly less likely if the expression had originated in gambling slang more familiar to the criminal underworld.
In modern usage "make no bones" has various nuances depending on context, but all have to do with a lack of hesitation or doubt. "We make no bones about saying ours is the best" means "We think nothing of saying it"; in "No bones about it - ours is the best," the expression is a disjunct meaning "no question about it" or "count on it"; and in the comment you heard, as in "We make no bones about the fact that we think ours is the best," "make no bones" means "to show no lack of forthrightness and frankness."