"Throw your hat in the door first"

[Sally Donlon]

According to my father, now deceased, his father used it often (along with "God
bless the Duke of Argyll" and others). My grandfather immigrated to the U.S.
from Galway, Ireland, when he was fourteen and thereafter fought in the
American Civil War. So, he could have picked it up almost anywhere, but the
sense was to throw one's hat in a door to see if it got shot. This was to
ascertain if the person inside the door was angry enough to shoot, for any
reason, not necessarily adultery. Hence, if I missed my father's curfew when I
was a teenager, I would tell my friends that I'd have to "throw my hat in
first" when I got home. Usually, of course, I was not wearing a hat...

sally donlon



paulzjoh wrote:

> As a child in the '40's remember the concept of throwing the hat in, to see
> if it came sailing out again.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
>
> >    Anyone familiar with this?
> >    Someone on the tour used it and asked me to research it.  "Throw your
> hat in the door first" means there could be trouble with the wife (one or
> the other partner has been fooling around) when the husband gets home.
> Obviously, not a new American phrase.
> >