Chrysti The Wordsmith: Climb the Walls

Greetings word lovers this is Christie the wordsmith. When vexed by frustration anxiety boredom or restlessness we can call on the handy verbal formula. I'm about to climb the walls. This cliche is of course hyperbole while flies are capable of doing so. Humans without specialized equipment do not literally climb walls. But we say we do. While awaiting relief from an intolerably boring or frustrating situation though this expression has a bit of a modern neurotic feel to it. The situation that inspired it is ancient. One of the earliest uses of the phrase in fact appears in the King James Version of the Old Testament Book of Joel. Here the author writes of a fearsome Army descending upon the Israel lights. The troops he writes run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line and they don't swerve off course. To capture a city invading armies had to find ways to scale and breach the fortified walls where the battle occurred in the Middle East Europe or the American West.

The frenzy with which a warrior climbed the wall of an enemy fortress suggests the desperation of a person trapped in a boring frustrating or anxious situation. I'm Christie the wordsmith. My website is wordsmith radio dot org where you can find out about herbivores feast and a verb of hors feast second course. Two books of radio scripts based on the series. Good day were not hers. 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.