No Skin Off My Nose

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name’s Allie, and I’m calling from Mankato, Minnesota.

Hi, Allie. Welcome to the show.

Hi, Allie.

What’s up?

Thank you.

Well, I just had a question.

I have been saying to some of my coworkers at work when they ask me a question to say that I don’t care. I’ll say, it’s no skin off my nose. And I have no idea where I picked it up. I know that I’ve known about this phrase since I was really young. So it could have been from a cartoon or whatever, but I have no idea where it came from, and I just started getting so curious about it.

You said, it’s no skin off my nose to mean I don’t care.

Yeah, right.

Okay.

Yeah, what are they asking you?

Well, I manage, like, cashiers at a grocery store. So they’ll say, hey, do you care if I get a drink? And they’ll say, well, it’s no skin off my nose. Like, I don’t care. We’re not busy, you know. But then I was like, I don’t know what that really means, so maybe I should stop saying it.

No, you’re good.

Are you a boxer, Allie?

You know, in a ring with gloves and KOs and one, two, three.

I don’t.

There’s a hint in one of the books, American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Is that what it’s called, Martha?

Yeah, I think.

The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms or some title like that. I should have written it down.

Okay.

But they have an entry there on no skin off one’s nose, and they suggest that it comes from boxing, although they have the curious note that says there’s no evidence to prove it. But I’m imagining the idea is if you’re talking to someone or you’re boxing with someone and they swing at you and they miss, they don’t even touch the tip of your nose, therefore there’s no skin off your nose and it doesn’t bother you at all. So I’m just kind of extending out this tiny little note in this book.

Could be boxing, could be fisticuffs.

Sure, yeah, it could be any kind of like, you know, put them up, come on.

Yeah.

And your co-workers understand what you mean when you say that, right?

They do.

Some of the younger ones give me a weird look because they don’t know exactly what, like they’ve never heard it.

So I would just…

Well, Allie, you sound young to me. How much younger are they? Do you have 10-year-olds working for you?

No, but we do have some that are like 16, 17, high school age.

Well, maybe you should go up to them and sort of, you know, shadow box. Maybe then they’ll get the idea.

Right.

That might work.

Well, it is a responsibility of us olds to teach all the youngs. So go for it.

I’ll do that.

I’ll pass along the knowledge.

All right.

Take care, Allie.

Thanks for calling.

Thank you so much.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

You know, skin off my nose is the earlier version, and more recently people have said no skin off my ear, no skin off my back, but skin off my nose is the one that stuck for some reason. I could see it coming from either boxing or maybe just fisticuffs, you know, a little school yard. He swung and missed.

Yeah.

Didn’t even get my nose.

Yeah.

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