Thursday, November 02, 2006

word origin: quid pro quo and cahoots

Quid pro quo comes from Latin and basically means, 'tit for tat.' However, to hear someone in power say, 'tit for tat' just doesn't have the same, umph as, quid pro quo. In political and business worlds it's now Latin for, 'you vote for my bill and I'll vote for yours.'

Cahoots:
The term comes from the Middle Ages and is derived from the German word, "kajuetes."

When Germany was thick with thieves and bandits, many of whom lived near the Black Forest in shacks called, kajuetes. When several bandits lived together they were in kajuete with each other.

The phrase has survived and has come to describe two or more people who are up to no good.


Let's use the two together in a sentence, "All politicans are in cahoots with each other and expect a quid pro quo relationship with those in their own political party."

Good job. Gold star.

2 comments:

Party Girl said...

update to last week's, scumbag. OMC made the comment that many people must not have been using them because people were still having a lot of kids at that time.

Here's the answer to that:

Condoms, as we would recognize them today, first appeared at the PA World's Exposition in 1878, which was about 40 years after rubber was first vulcanized, which made rubber thinner and also made for a more sensitive condom.
By 1930 more than 317 million condoms were being sold per year.

Now, were they being used and were they being used properly? That I don't know.

puerileuwaite said...

Ever since I was Vulcanized, I have viewed condoms as the logical way to live long and prosper.

Also, as I am in cahoots with the limerick people, here is one that is relevant to this post:

There once was a girl named Pat
Who had three brats named Mat, Nat and Tat
They were fun in the breeding
But hell in the feeding
When she found she had no tit for Tat