Chrysti The Wordsmith: Wet Behind the Ears

Greetings fellow verb of ours this is Christie the wordsmith. If someone tells you you're wet behind the ears it means you still need to grow up a bit. You're probably too naive and inexperienced for the situation at hand. Wet behind the ears alludes to the indentation behind the ear of any newborn creature. The last spot on the body to dry after birth. Someone wet behind the ears is a figurative newborn who lacks the experience to navigate life's complexities. The surprising thing about this metaphor is that it was preceded in print by an expression saying the very opposite a 1914 edition of a publication called dialect note reads dry. Back of the ears means mature. Twenty five years later a 939 edition of the Quarterly Journal American speech remarks the classic chastening phrase applied to the adolescent who feels that he has grown is that he isn't dry behind the ears yet. So here we have a homespun American

idiom that first appeared in print in its various forms. Early in the 20th century but folk sayings often circulate verbally for some time before they find their way to the printed page. So use of the expression dry back of the ears and wet behind the ears may extend well back into the eighteen hundreds. I'm Christie the wordsmith. This series is recorded and produced in the studios of FM on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman. Good day fellow word lovers. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.