Comment on What's the origin of the many phrases that include a person's name?
ProfessorScience@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’ve always wondered (but not hard enough to google it) about “Petered out”. Who if this Peter that failed to finish things so often that he became a phrase?!
Seleni@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That one’s got two competing theories. Either from Petre, the Latin word for ‘rock’, or Peter (that is, St. Peter).
One goes that ‘peter’ most likely referred to saltpetre, the main ingredient in gunpowder, which was the explosive of choice in early gold mining. Seems the term ‘peter out’ was first widely used by US gold miners in the 1800s describing veins that had run dry.
On the other hand, there is some colloquial evidence to trace it back further, and to England, and a type of fishing boat called a ‘peterboat’ (which picked the name up from St Peter). Those were long low boats that once oft plied the Thames, and were narrow and pointed at both ends so they could easily go either way in the current. ‘Peter out’ referred to the thin sharp double-taper of the boat-ends.