Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Rove, Rove, Rove your boat, gently up the river

I don't really have a post to go with that subject line. Except, perhaps, to ask--how did "up the river" come to mean "go to prison"?

8 comments:

Jim Donahue said...

Makes sense. And Sing Sing is "up the river" from NYC.

Anonymous said...

In the old days all prisons were up the river. That made it easy to transport people there, not so easy for them to get back.

Anonymous said...

The phrase originally referred to Sing-Sing Prison, on the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. From about 1890 on, it was broadened to apply to any prison by the early 1900s.

Going with the theory that it would be harder to get back from prison than to get there is illogical when refering to this phrase. Most rivers flow south, so going 'up the river' would imply that they were fighting against the current. Leaving would be easier as they would be going with the current.

Anonymous said...

Phthtphthth!!!

CG said...

You know, I never knew where that phrase came from. Still, I can only hope Rove ends up in prison. A nice tiny one with a roommate named "Killah"

Jim Donahue said...

Yes.

NYPinTA said...

"Rove, Rove, Rove your boat, gently up the river"

it's kind of hard to go gently up any river if you are in a leaky boat.

Anonymous said...

If I were asked the direction this administration has been taking this country, it would be up a river in a leaky boat. Oh, Lord, we're goin' down.