"lead-pipe cinch" (antedating to 1888 July 29)

[Wilson Gray]

On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

>> Presumably, "cinch" was inspired by "have a cinch on something," i.e., have
>> a tight band on it, hence complete control, a "cinch" becoming both a
>> certainty and a snap.

 According to the lore of the Old West[ern movie and pulp novel], a
"cinch" wasn't always a cinch. Cowponies were reputed to puff out
their chests and belies, when being saddled. Then, while the cowpoke
was in the act of mounting, the pony would relax, loosening the cinch
to the extent that the saddle would slide down the horse's side,
dropping the would-be rider to the ground, thereby garnering him the
horse-laugh from his cowleagues.

[For those to whom, e.g. TM–, RR–, B–B, and even the legendary Running
W mean nothing, the horses used by cowboys were routinely referred to
as "cow*ponies*," but I personally have no reason to believe that
ponies sensu stricto were ever used for anything in the Old West.]

-Wilson



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org