Etymology of “take to the cleaners.”
Multi tool use
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}
I heard the following statement in the Success Journal aired on April 15th, and was interested in the expression, “take (one) to the cleaners”:
“Phill Armour had struck gold, selling canned food to hungry miners.
His Armor can meats are still popular. But when he came time to
diversify things, Phil didn’t want to be taken to the cleaners, or
have his company get scrubbed out. He needed a guaranteed winner, or
product just about everyone would buy.”
Google Ngram shows that the phrase came into use during 1930 through 1940, and after a brief hiatus, it started to regain currency from 1960 from 0.00000005% to 0.00000014% level in 2000.
Cambridge online dictionary defines the meaning of this idiom as;
to get a lot of money from somebody, usually by cheating them.
I feel like associating “take to the cleaners” with a Japanese idiom, 身ぐるみ剥ぐ、which means to rob a person of all money and property by stripping off his or her clothes cleanly. What is the origin of “take to the cleaners”? Why did this idiom come up late in so late in 1930?
etymology idioms
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
add a comment |
I heard the following statement in the Success Journal aired on April 15th, and was interested in the expression, “take (one) to the cleaners”:
“Phill Armour had struck gold, selling canned food to hungry miners.
His Armor can meats are still popular. But when he came time to
diversify things, Phil didn’t want to be taken to the cleaners, or
have his company get scrubbed out. He needed a guaranteed winner, or
product just about everyone would buy.”
Google Ngram shows that the phrase came into use during 1930 through 1940, and after a brief hiatus, it started to regain currency from 1960 from 0.00000005% to 0.00000014% level in 2000.
Cambridge online dictionary defines the meaning of this idiom as;
to get a lot of money from somebody, usually by cheating them.
I feel like associating “take to the cleaners” with a Japanese idiom, 身ぐるみ剥ぐ、which means to rob a person of all money and property by stripping off his or her clothes cleanly. What is the origin of “take to the cleaners”? Why did this idiom come up late in so late in 1930?
etymology idioms
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
add a comment |
I heard the following statement in the Success Journal aired on April 15th, and was interested in the expression, “take (one) to the cleaners”:
“Phill Armour had struck gold, selling canned food to hungry miners.
His Armor can meats are still popular. But when he came time to
diversify things, Phil didn’t want to be taken to the cleaners, or
have his company get scrubbed out. He needed a guaranteed winner, or
product just about everyone would buy.”
Google Ngram shows that the phrase came into use during 1930 through 1940, and after a brief hiatus, it started to regain currency from 1960 from 0.00000005% to 0.00000014% level in 2000.
Cambridge online dictionary defines the meaning of this idiom as;
to get a lot of money from somebody, usually by cheating them.
I feel like associating “take to the cleaners” with a Japanese idiom, 身ぐるみ剥ぐ、which means to rob a person of all money and property by stripping off his or her clothes cleanly. What is the origin of “take to the cleaners”? Why did this idiom come up late in so late in 1930?
etymology idioms
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
I heard the following statement in the Success Journal aired on April 15th, and was interested in the expression, “take (one) to the cleaners”:
“Phill Armour had struck gold, selling canned food to hungry miners.
His Armor can meats are still popular. But when he came time to
diversify things, Phil didn’t want to be taken to the cleaners, or
have his company get scrubbed out. He needed a guaranteed winner, or
product just about everyone would buy.”
Google Ngram shows that the phrase came into use during 1930 through 1940, and after a brief hiatus, it started to regain currency from 1960 from 0.00000005% to 0.00000014% level in 2000.
Cambridge online dictionary defines the meaning of this idiom as;
to get a lot of money from somebody, usually by cheating them.
I feel like associating “take to the cleaners” with a Japanese idiom, 身ぐるみ剥ぐ、which means to rob a person of all money and property by stripping off his or her clothes cleanly. What is the origin of “take to the cleaners”? Why did this idiom come up late in so late in 1930?
etymology idioms
etymology idioms
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
asked 2 mins ago
Yoichi Oishi♦Yoichi Oishi
35k112371766
35k112371766
add a comment |
add a comment |
0
active
oldest
votes
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f494457%2fetymology-of-take-to-the-cleaners%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
0
active
oldest
votes
0
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f494457%2fetymology-of-take-to-the-cleaners%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
var $window = $(window),
onScroll = function(e) {
var $elem = $('.new-login-left'),
docViewTop = $window.scrollTop(),
docViewBottom = docViewTop + $window.height(),
elemTop = $elem.offset().top,
elemBottom = elemTop + $elem.height();
if ((docViewTop elemBottom)) {
StackExchange.using('gps', function() { StackExchange.gps.track('embedded_signup_form.view', { location: 'question_page' }); });
$window.unbind('scroll', onScroll);
}
};
$window.on('scroll', onScroll);
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
j9fGVtr,ZFZEGFbmExMAIGT9Z,H8UUnzo0Gj,jn9N5g,TdJ1v6Zts
