Did you ever wonder how the old expression, "It's curtains for you!" came to be? Usually it's an expression found in old gangster type movies that signify that somebody is about to be killed or done away with.
It's really a silly expression when you think about it. Figures of speech don't always make sense, but unless the bad guy is planning to wrap up his victim in curtains, or bash him over the head with a curtain rod, or take the drawstring and choke him out, what really is the threat here?
I mean, who doesn't like nice curtains? They block out the light, keep people from seeing in, make the rooms look a lot nicer? Where's the danger? Did the first person who said something like this have some traumatic childhood experience that made him think that bad stuff = curtains? Did he have a long period of history where he worked in a curtain factory and he suffered its brutalities? Where on earth did this come from?
I suppose there is a good reason that this expression has mostly disappeared from the vernacular. "I'll kick your ___" is much more threatening, and "You're dead!" naturally has a sense of dread attached to it. Language doesn't always change for the better, but this might be one good change. I don't suppose that I'll be bringing this expression back with my kids anytime soon when they get in trouble or don't do well in school. They'd only laugh at me if I did.
On a completely unrelated note, I have been putting up new curtains and curtain rods all day today after spending most of last night shopping for them.
