To be on the lam is to be running from the law, and lam likely comes from an older verb meaning to beat or thrash. Because beat it also came to mean run away or scram, lam appears to have followed the same path into slang for fleeing. Colleen in Lake Dallas, Texas, wondered after London police used the phrase for robbers who kept skipping bail. The expression is chiefly American and turns up in the late 1800s, along with related slang such as lamster, a fugitive or someone who runs off with loot. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “How Did “On the Lam” Come to Mean Running Away?”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello there. This is Colleen Walsh from Lake Dallas, Texas.
And I’d like to know where the saying came from, on the slam, meaning when someone runs away from the police.
The reason why I ask this is because 10 years ago, when my husband and I were living in London, he decided to sell his Rolex watch because of all the muggings and the robbings they had.
And since I’m a professional astrologer, I told him this was the worst, worst time for you to be doing that.
Well, he went ahead, tried to sell the watch. Instead, we got robbed, and the robbers were caught in three days.
But it took three years to get them to court because every time the judge gave them bail, they ran away and they were on the lam.
Every time the policeman or constable had to call us up and said, well, they’re on the lam again, where did that saying come from? On the lamb.
So you were right.
Oh, yes, I was right.
Here’s the thing. This is pretty straightforward, I think.
To go on the lamb actually is just a later version of to lamb, which means to run away, to flee, to escape, or to beat it.
And what’s interesting about that last synonym, to beat it, which means, you know, another slang term meaning to run away. They’re like, beat it, kid, get out of here.
Is that lamb has an even older meaning to lamb, which is to beat it.
So what you have here is to lamb somebody is to beat, meaning to thrash them or to hit them.
To beat is also to run or to scram. And so by transference, lamb also comes to mean to run or to scram.
So it kind of passes between these three different expressions.
I wondered if it had anything to do with the wigs that the people wore in court, because they look like lamb’s heads.
No, no, it’s spelled without the B for one thing. And actually, the expression is far more American than it is anything.
Yeah, it’s far more common in American literature. It doesn’t really appear until the very late 1800s in the first place.
So there were a variety of other expressions, slang expressions long out of fashion that are kind of related to it, like lamster, L-A-M-S-T-E-R, which is a person who escapes, a fugitive or somebody who is taken off with the loot.
Yeah.
Well, Colleen, this has been fascinating. We appreciate your calling.
Thank you so much, and I love your show. I look forward. I never want to miss your show. It’s so interesting.
Oh, thank you so much. It’s very nice to hear, Colleen.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
Bye-bye.
All right, bye-bye.
Take care.
Well, run on over to your phone and give us a call. The number’s 1-877-929-9673.
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