1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,720
Speaker 1: Those old Saints, phrases, idioms, you know the things your

2
00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:05,879
family and friends would say. And it usually came from

3
00:00:05,919 --> 00:00:09,119
out of nowhere, and only sometimes it actually made sense. Well,

4
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:11,480
they had to start somewhere, right, Who, what, where, why,

5
00:00:11,519 --> 00:00:14,160
when and how? Some of those old saints are not

6
00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,640
only ancient, but still carry a powerful punch today. In fact,

7
00:00:17,719 --> 00:00:20,120
I live by one of those old saints. Winning is

8
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,960
a choice. The goal of these episodes is to help

9
00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,440
preserve not only a language, but lessons in life. My

10
00:00:26,559 --> 00:00:30,359
name is Arrow. You make a better door than window.

11
00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:32,920
It's used as a polite way of asking someone to

12
00:00:33,039 --> 00:00:36,520
please get out of the way. It's looked upon as

13
00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,240
being a humorous way of suggesting. The earliest occurrences of

14
00:00:40,399 --> 00:00:42,719
you make a better door than window take us all

15
00:00:42,759 --> 00:00:45,560
the way back to the writing of British novelists Matilda

16
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,159
Anne Markhamus, who used it in her story a mingle Yarn.

17
00:00:50,679 --> 00:00:53,799
In it, Ashley is gifting her dog with bread dipped

18
00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,840
in jam. Dolly says, don't, master Walter, you'll make the

19
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,039
dog sick. You'd make a better do than a window. Two.

20
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000
A newspaper column in eighteen ninety one used the phrase

21
00:01:05,079 --> 00:01:08,560
in a local happenings piece, A large crowd of spectators

22
00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,560
will be there to hear the old chestnut down in front,

23
00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,920
you would make a better door than window. Suddenly it

24
00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,400
became the thing to say, appearing in other articles in

25
00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,680
eighteen ninety five, ninety six, nineteen hundred and even nineteen

26
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,400
oh one, and not just here in the States. All

27
00:01:24,439 --> 00:01:27,040
of a sudden, the world had accepted it, you make

28
00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:29,879
a better door than window. It takes me all the

29
00:01:29,879 --> 00:01:33,239
way back to my stern father's constant ordering around. It

30
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,239
was my mother's influence that helped him stop saying, Hey,

31
00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:38,760
get the hell out of my way, you make a

32
00:01:38,799 --> 00:01:42,760
better door than window. One writer believes it's an old

33
00:01:42,799 --> 00:01:47,000
Polish catchphrase crafted during the depression days of the World War.

34
00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,359
You make a better door than window, something our parents

35
00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,120
would say. My name is Errol.