ok... looking for the whys in the phrases "I hate your guts!" "it takes guts." "I just can't stomach it." etc. Was there a culture who thought you feel with your intestines or stomach? I seem to remember something about thinking with your stomach... ugh. help. is there an online reference for these sorts of phrases? I just can't "get a handle" on it. lol.
I remember Mark Lowry (Christian Comedian) doing a bit on this once. He talked about in the Old Testament cultures, the guts were thought to be the seat of emotions (much like the heart today). He actually cited sources, but I don't remember what they were. Of course, being Mark, he added a few phrases that take on a whole new meaning in that context. E.g. "Baby, you mooooove me."
http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n16/history/mind-history_i.html http://www.mindpub.com/art411.htm http://www.ittybittycomputers.com/Essays/Mistrans.htm http://www.unizar.es/linguisticageneral/articulos/Ibarretxe-internal-organs-2008.pdf Those were the first four relevent links that came up when I googled "guts seat of emotion." There were tons more. HTH
I love Mark Lowry! I think the think about "I hate your guts" must surely come from the idea that "I hate you to the very center of your being," or at least that's what I've always imagined it meant. I'm not so sure about "it takes guts" but I do know that there have been ancient cultures who thought that the liver was the seat of emotions, while the heart was the seat of thought - hence the Biblical "who has thought in his heart".... The brain was just a skull-filler with no particular function to those folks. I know I've heard people called "lily-livered" if they lacked courage, and "he's venting his spleen" of someone who was vocally expressing his anger in no uncertain terms. The "I can't stomach it" I've always taken to mean that like bad food, which my physical stomach rejects, I'm rejecting the current situation -- just like "it makes me sick!" or "I'm sick of this!" Now I'm off to go check out Actressdancer's links~
ok it is from the American revolution and its origin has been lost with time, my dd and I had a research time over it. I am still looking but this is what she found about it, hope it helps! I have found out there are songs with those words for its title! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeling#Gut_feeling give this a try!
http://www.ittybittycomputers.com/Essays/Mistrans.htm not exactly what I was looking for but great article!!
