I Go to the Foot of the Stairs

Hey there, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, A Way with Words. I am Mike from Glasgow, Kentucky.

Glasgow, Kentucky. Hello, Mike. Welcome to the show.

And thank you.

What can we do for you?

I have been curious for a number of years about a phrase that I heard more than once on some British comedies. Are You Being Served? And Last of the Summer Wine.

And I’ve been a longtime fan of British comedies.

And the phrase I have heard on the show, which sparked my curiosity, is, I go to the foot of our stairs.

And in what context would you hear this?

The context was always seemingly someone who had just been told something that was shocking, surprising, or amazing.

Yeah, that sounds exactly right.

Yeah.

There’s a whole bunch of weird catchphrases that don’t make any sense out of context.

But they feel right.

It probably sounded right in the middle of the show, though, right?

It sounded—

Well, sure.

Yeah.

In the middle of the show, it’s like, all right, that sounds like an expression of surprise.

I can understand that.

But out of context, you’re like, why would they say I’ll go to the foot of our stairs?

This doesn’t make any sense.

How is that a thing?

The questions that I always ask myself are, one, what is there? What’s at the foot of the stairs? And number two, what do you do when you get there? Why do you go there?

And that’s my curiosity.

All right, let’s break this down.

I think I’ve got some ideas and some answers for you.

There are a couple reference books that help with this.

There’s one called The Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases by Anna Farkas. That’s F-A-R-K-A-S that has an entry on this.

But also the catchphrase and quote expert Nigel Rees, that’s R-E-E-S. He’s got more or less the same entry in a bunch of his different books on quotes and catchphrases that mentions this.

And they both point to a BBC comedy radio series called It’s That Man Again, often abbreviated as ITMA, that ran from 1939 to 1949. You can find some episodes online if you want to hear it. It doesn’t age very well.

But this show was known for its catchphrases. It was one of the main things they did with the characters. They had like a zillion characters on it. Every character had a catchphrase.

And one of the characters had this, or a version of it, as its catchphrase. Well, I’ll go to the foot of the stairs.

And you’ll often find it in the years since, in the decades since, modified. I’ll go to the foot of my stairs, of your stairs, of our stairs, to the bottom of the stairs, or even to the back of our house.

And generally, this show, which featured comedian Tommy Hanley from Liverpool, is credited with popularizing the phrase, but not originating it.

And that’s the important part.

Apparently it existed.

But if you think about things, have you ever heard expressions like, well, good night?

Of course.

Okay.

This is what this is doing.

When you go to the foot of the stairs, what you’re doing is about to ascend those stairs and go to your room and go to bed.

I see.

So what you’re saying is that I’m done with this nonsense or this surprise or this has so befuddled me that I have to withdraw from polite company and go to sleep and sleep this off.

That’s basically what you’re saying.

I have to sleep this off.

This is just too much for me.

I’m overwhelmed.

I have asked some English friends in the past what they had to share about the phrase.

One explanation I received was that the person who says the phrase had just been shocked or amazed at something, and you ask yourself, what is at the foot of the stairs?

And in Yorkshire, very commonly in old times, you found the privy.

And I was explained that somebody was so shocked, so amazed at something that they were just told that they would probably have to go out in the back garden because they had just soiled themselves or needed to use the – yes.

Oh, I see. Yes.

How they needed to think about it.

Well, I found that intriguing and the most plausible explanation.

I think that does go hand in hand with my explanation, though, that they are so overwhelmed by whatever.

They’re claiming to be so overwhelmed by what has been said or what has happened.

Right.

That they are forced by circumstances to do something that the body requires.

Yes.

Yes.

And I accept your explanation being in line with what I expected.

Mike, take care of yourself.

Thank you for sharing your question, and I appreciate all the time you put into researching it and bringing it to us.

It has been a pleasure and a thrill.

All right. Take care of yourself. Bye-bye.

Good day.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Go to the foot of the stairs and call us, 877-929-9673.