Chrysti The Wordsmith: Win Hands Down

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith from famine Bozeman Montana. Mike Duffy TV critic for The Detroit Free Press wrote a review of the Warner Brothers Television series Jack and Bobby. The story of two young small town brothers and their history professor mom in his September 2004 review. Duffy called the series witty fun and honestly emotional Jack and Bobby he wrote wins hands down in the fall television contest hands down. We find this expression anywhere there's a competition to be won and lost in sports chess matches or spelling bees. The hands down winner prevails with seemingly little effort and usually by a significant margin. This expression may logically suggest perhaps a card playing Origin. In reality though the sport that inspired this cliche is much more animated than cards. It's horse racing or so say most etymological sources including the Oxford English Dictionary. To win hands down is an allusion to the custom of jockeys to

relax their grip on the reins when victory is certain. The winning horse gallops easily to the finish line with its jockey relaxed and riding with his hands down. The Oxford English Dictionary lists an early citation from 1867 which reads. There were good horses in those days but Barker upon his horse who hands down shot by them all. I'm Christie the wordsmith from KGO FM in Bozeman Montana. 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. Pseud web dot com.