To Be in the Soup

Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Jennifer. I’m calling from Omaha, Nebraska.

Hey, Jennifer, what’s up? Well, I have a question. You know, my mom, ever since I was little and growing up, especially when my brother and I might be fighting or something like that, she would always say, you better be careful, you’re going to be in the soup. And she said that whenever we might get in trouble. Yeah. And I have no idea where that comes from. I know that her mom used to tell that to her as well.

But I understand, like in the doghouse, that means you’re outside with a dog. But in the soup, I have no idea.

Right. She didn’t say what kind of soup or anything like that.

No, she never said what kind of soup. Just the soup.

So what are we talking about? Are you serious trouble or just a little bit of trouble?

No, it’s just kind of a little bit of trouble. Like we were being a little ornery maybe, not being as nice as we should. So we’re going to be in the soup.

Yeah. A lot of people think it has to do with a fly in the soup because you think the fly lands there and he dies because it’s hot, right? But it’s not the origin as far as we know. The whole idea of a fly in the soup is kind of a joke, kind of this trope, really is a modern one, like 1950s or something like that, 1940s.

But it goes back further. The first use we have of being in the soup, meaning to be in trouble, is the 1880s, 1888 exact. And the reason we know this is there was a political campaign where Benjamin Harrison defeated incumbent Grover Cleveland for the presidency. And it was a political catchphrase of that year. And it kind of caught on that year.

Now, why it came out that year, we don’t know for sure. But one of the stories is there was a really swanky club. Think of a gentleman’s club in New York City. It was called the Hoffman House. And there was an incident that happened where a waiter spilled soup all over himself, all over his face and his head. And he ran from the room and it was kind of a big deal.

And as he ran from the room in great pain, somebody who didn’t see what happened said, you know, what happened? I, you know, they were wondering. And there was this Texas politician named Tom Ochiltree who said with a straight face, he’s in the soup. Now, this guy apparently was known for his great wit. And I know that doesn’t sound particularly funny to you, but there was a dryness about it, I guess, that caught people’s whimsy and caught their fancy. And so this was a line that was repeated widely and for years, I guess. Supposedly, that’s the story.

But there’s another story. This one I like more. The word researcher Barry Poppik turned this up. George and Marie Nelson were a comedy team. They performed for many decades. And they had this routine where there’s a family that is a joke. They put everything in the soup. They put razor blades in the soup. They put human bones in the soup. And so this is like this vaudeville routine, this stage routine. And so this sketch comedy act is played for years and years and years, well before the scene at the Hoffman House.

And so there’s this story in the newspaper from 1888 that put it this way. The Nelsons are very funny people, and their pet phrase soon furnished another byword to the members of a profession who were always ready to catch gags from one another. In the soup became a green room synonym for dejection, despondency, defeat. In time, it leaked out into the big world.

So this is 1888. So when this expression popped up during the time of the political campaign, people immediately said, wait a second, why are we all saying this right now? And the newspapers tried to explain it, and they caught on to the Nelsons and this comedy routine that they had going. So we don’t really know for sure, but it could have come from either this incident at the Hoffman House or from George Marie Nelson and their sketch that was playing everywhere.

Well, how interesting. I would have never guessed either of those. Not even close. I thought maybe in the suit meant you were going overboard off the ship’s edge or something like that. I would have never guessed. It’s funny because many years later, in the subsequent years since 1888, that joke has been made repeatedly to say that when somebody falls overboard, they are in the suit because obviously they’re in some kind of liquid.

And so a lot of people do assume that it comes from falling overboard, but it’s the reverse. Being in the soup isn’t from falling overboard. Falling overboard borrowed in the soup as this kind of secondary meaning of being in the soup. Does that make sense?

Yeah. People made the joke after the soup already existed.

Well, very good. Thank you so much. I look forward to talking with my family and letting them know that.

That’s interesting. Thank you so much for your call.

Thanks, Jennifer.

Yeah. Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.