literally have him by the short hairs
Nealz Nuze
Democrats and other big-government lovers know that when you control a person’s access to health care, you control that person absolutely. You literally have him by the short hairs.
I did some research on the literal meaning of the idiom “to have someone by the short hairs”. My first thought came from memories as a child: if I misbehaved, my mother would grab the short hairs at the back of my neck to achieve instant submission.
However, after searching the Internet, the most common meaning for “by the short hairs” seems to refer to pubic hair. The earliest reference I could find is as follows:
1948 Partridge Dict. Forces’ Slang 168 - Short and curlies, the short hairs, in the phrase `He got me by the short and curlies’ — he caught me out properly.
The figurative meaning is to have absolute control of a person — and that is clearly what Neal means, so this is an incorrect use of the word “literally”.
It is also ironic that at the top of his page Neal exclaims:
“I’ll try to be nicer, If you try to be smarter”
July 29th, 2005 at 11:35 pm
where do you find these pictures? that’s awesome!
August 1st, 2005 at 5:00 pm
I usually get images from stock.xchng or search the Flickr creative-commons.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:13 am
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/by-the-short-hairs.html
May 14th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I had someone who believed this idiom referred to the pubic hairs too, which contradicts my understanding on the term. My short research on the web contradicts yours:
http://bits.westhost.com/idioms/id269.htm
Idiom Meaning
got you by the short hairs has a painful hold on you, has an advantage, gotcha
Example
“What can I do about a bad credit rating?” “Not much. They’ve got you by the short hairs.”
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/by-the-short-hairs.html
Meaning
To be ‘caught/got/held by the short hairs’, or in the UK equivalent, ‘… by the short and curlies’ is to be trapped by an opponent, in a position one can’t easily escape from.
Origin
Few people would doubt that the short hairs/short and curlies are the pubic hairs and that this phrase is of vulgar origin. Such an assumption would be incorrect. The short hairs in question are the hairs of the neck.
http://www.geocities.com/informalenglish/H.html
have/get sb by the short hairs(v) :to have (sb) in a difficult position that he can’t do anything but accept to do what one wants. _I had him by the short hairs after I saw him together with another girl, that’s why he has to do whatever I want, or else I go and tell it to Susan.
http://duggmirror.com/comedy/The_Bizarre_History_of_10_Common_Sayings/
‘By the Short Hairs”
Now Means:
Being in such a strategically advantageous position that you can bend another person to your will. As in, “Once Hannah Montana’s lawyers file suit, Disney’s really going to have Cracked by the short hairs.”
Most say it came from …
The history behind “By the short hairs” is a strange one as the phrase (as it’s used today) really has no history. One day somewhere in the world someone must have thought it would be funny to grab a dude by his pubes and refuse to let go–completely ignoring the poor fellow’s yelps for mercy and womanly crying.
The grabber probably then realized that by putting this person in such a painfully precarious position he could then force them to, say, shovel the snow on the side walk, pay a long overdue debt or maybe just scream like a man having his pubes yanked like it was an S&M-themed tractor pull.
So is that true?
No. We made that one up because, as we stated, the reference to pubic hair has no history. When ‘By the short hairs’ was first coined it was referring to hair a bit north of the proverbial “junk.”
The earliest documented usage of the phrase can be found in a novel written by the man that brought us The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling. His short nonfiction story, The Drums of the Fore and Aft had this quote:
“They’ll shout and carry on like this for five minutes. Then they’ll rush in, and then we’ve got ‘em by the short hairs!”
It’s explained elsewhere in the story that the hair being pulled is the hair on the back of the neck.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/have_someone_by_the_short_hairs
[edit] English
[edit] Verb
to have someone by the short hairs
1. (idiomatic) To have someone in a difficult situation in which he or she is without alternatives and can be controlled.
2002, Martin Peretz, “Power Trip,” The New Republic, 7 Jun.,
The Saudis know that as long as we consume 7 billion barrels per year (4 billion of them imported from abroad), they have us by the short hairs.
[edit] Synonyms
have someone over a barrel