Speaker 1: Those old Saints, phrases, idioms, you know the things your
family and friends would say. And it usually came from
out of nowhere, and only sometimes it actually made sense. Well,
they had to start somewhere, right, Who, what, where, why,
when and how? Some of those old saints are not
only ancient, but still carry a powerful punch today. In fact,
I live by one of those old saints. Winning is
a choice. The goal of these episodes is to help
preserve not only a language, but lessons in life. My
name is Arrow. You make a better door than window.
It's used as a polite way of asking someone to
please get out of the way. It's looked upon as
being a humorous way of suggesting. The earliest occurrences of
you make a better door than window take us all
the way back to the writing of British novelists Matilda
Anne Markhamus, who used it in her story a mingle Yarn.
In it, Ashley is gifting her dog with bread dipped
in jam. Dolly says, don't, master Walter, you'll make the
dog sick. You'd make a better do than a window. Two.
A newspaper column in eighteen ninety one used the phrase
in a local happenings piece, A large crowd of spectators
will be there to hear the old chestnut down in front,
you would make a better door than window. Suddenly it
became the thing to say, appearing in other articles in
eighteen ninety five, ninety six, nineteen hundred and even nineteen
oh one, and not just here in the States. All
of a sudden, the world had accepted it, you make
a better door than window. It takes me all the
way back to my stern father's constant ordering around. It
was my mother's influence that helped him stop saying, Hey,
get the hell out of my way, you make a
better door than window. One writer believes it's an old
Polish catchphrase crafted during the depression days of the World War.
You make a better door than window, something our parents
would say. My name is Errol.