If you’ve ever had your pipes frozen, I believe you’d agree that it is more akin to an “act with destructive impact on”, than simply “affect negatively”!
Musical numbers: in one of the Marx Brothers’ films (The Cocoanuts, I believe), Chico sits down to play the piano, and the hostess, played by Margaret Dumont, asks what the first number will be. “Number one,” he answers, holding up an index finger.
Brian F Thompson:
November 20th, 2019 at 7:46 pm
As an ex pat Brit this is not an expression that I know or would use but I have heard it often enough to get the gist of its meaning.
When I was trying to understand how it came to have the meaning of ‘destructive impact’ I wondered if it was a more acceptable way of saying that someone had pooped on something (a number 2).
C. A.:
April 21st, 2020 at 1:05 pm
Perhaps the 1960s slang usage has a boxing root? A one-two punch maybe became “doing a number”?
Duncan:
June 16th, 2020 at 3:33 pm
In boxing I believe it’s common to name the few types of punches 1-4 or 5 (I’m not sure how many there are) so to spar and call out quickly spoken strings of combinations for the boxer to then implement.
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Ellen Sheffer:
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:24 pm
If you’ve ever had your pipes frozen, I believe you’d agree that it is more akin to an “act with destructive impact on”, than simply “affect negatively”!
Steve Dunham:
August 16th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Musical numbers: in one of the Marx Brothers’ films (The Cocoanuts, I believe), Chico sits down to play the piano, and the hostess, played by Margaret Dumont, asks what the first number will be. “Number one,” he answers, holding up an index finger.
Brian F Thompson:
November 20th, 2019 at 7:46 pm
As an ex pat Brit this is not an expression that I know or would use but I have heard it often enough to get the gist of its meaning.
When I was trying to understand how it came to have the meaning of ‘destructive impact’ I wondered if it was a more acceptable way of saying that someone had pooped on something (a number 2).
C. A.:
April 21st, 2020 at 1:05 pm
Perhaps the 1960s slang usage has a boxing root? A one-two punch maybe became “doing a number”?
Duncan:
June 16th, 2020 at 3:33 pm
In boxing I believe it’s common to name the few types of punches 1-4 or 5 (I’m not sure how many there are) so to spar and call out quickly spoken strings of combinations for the boxer to then implement.