Quote:
Originally Posted by RWebb
"deader than a door nail"
- that one never made sense to me
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Three possibilities:
The classic “Door nail” was a large headed nail placed directly under a door’s knocker. The doornail is the thing you strike when you hammer up and down on a door’s knocker.
Possibility One:
The doornail is “dead” because it’s had its head hammered on so many times. Mildly amusing today – but meaningful in medieval times – we know that the pope and various royalty were actually hammered on their heads with silver hammers upon their death to make sure they were actually dead, not just unconscious.
Possibility Two:
The Doornail (getting so much abuse) often worked its way loose. To prevent this, the pointy end, on the other side of the door, was hammered down flat (called clinching – i.e. you have heard of “clinching a deal”, etc). This nail couldn’t be removed or re-used; it was therefore “dead”.
Possibility Three:
The last physical doorway you go through is your coffin. Your coffin “Door” (lid) is hammered tight with nails. [Note that coffins lids are usually hinged on one side, just like doors!] So these coffin nails could also be called “door nails” and anybody on the other side of them was very dead indeed.