“There is no truth in our feet”: the meaning of the phraseological unit, its origin. There is no truth at the feet - meaning Sit down at the feet there is no truth what does it mean
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In phraseological dictionaries, the following interpretation is given for the expression “There is no truth at your feet”: an invitation to sit down in the meaning - it is better to sit down than to stand. In addition, there is a mark “decomposed.” - colloquial, “joke.” - humorous.
It is worth noting that this verbal formula is often called not a phraseological unit, but a saying. For example, this is exactly what Vladimir Ivanovich Dal thought, placing it in his book “Proverbs of the Russian People.” However, all modern phraseological reference books and dictionaries also explain the meaning of this expression. So, what is the meaning of the phraseological unit “There is no truth in our feet”? Let's first discuss its origins.
The origin of the phraseological unit “There is no truth at our feet”
The history of the emergence of this stable expression is connected with the judicial customs of Ancient Rus'. The punishment system in those days was significantly different from the modern one and was often associated with physical force. Under torture, information about a person’s guilt in a crime, witness statements, and debts were also extracted.
So, in the XV - XVIII centuries. In ancient Russian law there was a method of forced collection of debts - “pravezh”. It was applied to people who did not want or for some reason could not pay the debt. The name comes from the Old Russian word “to rule,” which meant “to exact.” This method consisted in the fact that the accused was brought to the official hut (the place where the city government was located), took off his shoes and was beaten daily on the legs with batogs (thick sticks specially designed for corporal punishment). As a result, the debtor either returned the money or was given over to the creditor as a slave. The pointlessness of this method of obtaining a debt is obvious: often the debtor, after prolonged torture, became crippled and simply could no longer work to obtain funds to repay the debt. Perhaps this is why the expression “There is no truth in your feet” appeared, that is, in this way, by beating your feet, you cannot repay debts.
There is a second version of the origin of the phraseological unit “There is no truth at our feet,” which is closely related to the first. Many debtors, knowing what punishment was in store for them for non-payment of debts, ran away in advance, fearing cruel physical reprisals provided for by the “pravezh”. Therefore, people said that it was no longer possible to obtain “truth” (in this case, “duty”) from them. Because of this, the expression “There is no truth in the feet” arose.
Where else could the phraseological unit “There is no truth in your feet” come from?
Some scientists adhere to a different version, which is also related to the system of punishment for crimes in Ancient Rus'. Most landowners who had serfs perceived them as their property and could apply the most cruel measures to them. So, if the landowner discovered the loss or damage of some property, he gathered the peasants and forced them to stand until they handed over the culprit.
But the fact is that only those peasants who were preparing to escape decided to steal or damage the landowner’s property. Even if the damage occurred by accident, the peasants, realizing what kind of reprisal awaited them, preferred to run and hide from the landowner. Therefore, the standing of the remaining peasants turned out to be meaningless: the culprit usually ran away in advance. Doomed to stand in vain and torment, sometimes for several days, the peasants repeated the now familiar expression: “There is no truth in our feet.”
Since those long ago, a lot has changed in public life, but the phraseology “There is no truth in our feet” has firmly entered into everyday life and is still used today. However, its meaning has changed. Now this is not a gloomy phrase, but a half-joking expression addressed to the interlocutor with the fact that it is much more convenient to have a conversation while sitting.
We looked at the meaning of the phraseological unit “There is no truth in our feet,” as well as the history of its origin. There are many versions, but the essence of its appearance is the same. In our blog you will find the meaning of many other phraseological units.
Phraseologism " there is no truth in my feet" denotes an ironic form of inviting your guest or partner to sit down. For example, you can say: “Let's sit down, because there is no truth in our feet, and then we’ll discuss everything.”
Such a harmless idiom at first glance" there is no truth in my feet“contains a very difficult meaning and was previously associated with pain and torment.
Where did the expression “there is no truth in your feet” come from?
This catchphrase has its roots deep in the history of Russia. According to researchers, it appeared approximately in 15-18 centuries on the territory of the Russian state among the Russian people.In those dark times, there was a system of usury and citizens actively borrowed from local “bankers”, who were boyars or princes. However, if the person who took out the loan could not repay on time, then he was subject to the so-called “pravezh”.
This execution was an educational process through which the debtor had to compensate for the “truth.” The concept of “truth” then meant debt or debt.
Then you ask, what do legs have to do with it?
You probably don’t even know how court sentences of that time were executed in Rus'. The search for “truth” of that time is radically different from the actions of the modern judicial machine.
If a person for some reason did not repay the debt, then a trial took place and “rights” were imposed, which consisted of inflicting a series of blows on the legs of the defendant with an iron rod.
How many days the execution would last was determined only by the judge; the minimum punishment was 30
-ten days. Moreover, after these tortures, the person’s debt was not removed, although there were exceptions.
A similar judicial system existed on the territory of Russia for several centuries, and much later, such a savage method was abolished. “Pravezh” was abolished for one simple reason, since the debtor who received the punishment, after a few days of torture with iron rods, became disabled and could not work. Therefore, the debt can be collected with It was not possible to have such a debtor; you can’t earn much with broken legs.
Phrase " there is no truth in my feet" arose simultaneously, both among wealthy citizens who gave loans to the poor, and among debtors. Most of them understood the futility of punishment; both of them spoke simply: "there is no truth in the legs".
Although such savage methods were no longer practiced everywhere, some landowners continued to punish their serfs in a similar way.
Another variant of the emergence of this phraseological unit can be considered the punishment of peasants by their master. When a serious theft or malicious damage to property occurred, all local peasants were collected and sent to the square, where they had to stand until they confessed to their crime. They were not allowed to sit down, such torture could last 5-7
days. This was done so that the culprit would himself admit to the offense or so that his comrades in misfortune would hand him over, unable to withstand the terrible torment.
It is worth noting that in most cases, such offenses were committed by precisely those peasants who intended to run away from their master. Therefore, they were not among the people standing in the square. That is, essentially innocent people accepted the punishment.
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There are quite a lot of phraseological units in the Russian language, some of which are especially revered among the masses. True, most people use them without thinking at all about where this or that expression came from. Therefore, on the website we have created a separate category in which we will interpret such phrases. Be sure to “send” this resource to your bookmarks so that you can check back with us from time to time. Today we will talk about such a mysterious phrase as There is no truth in my feet, you can find out the meaning a little later.
However, before continuing to explain this expression, I want to offer you a couple more interesting articles on the topic of phraseological units. For example, what does Neither fish nor meat mean? how to understand The dog barks, the caravan moves on; which means bash on bash; the meaning of the expression Live from bread to kvass, etc.
So let's continue What does it mean There is no truth in the feet? There are several versions of the origin of this phrase, we will analyze only the most popular of them.
There is no truth in my feet- this is an allegorical invitation to sit down, sometimes used as a greeting
First version. Historians associate the origin of the popular phraseological unit with the ancient judicial method of interrogation, which was called “pravezh”.
It consisted in the fact that a person was beaten on the feet with a stick, and then forced to stand in the snow without shoes. As a result, unable to withstand such torture, the defendants took all the blame upon themselves, even if they did not commit what they were accused of. As we understand, this interrogation did not contribute to establishing the truth, and therefore the expression " There is no truth in my feet".
Similar punishments began to be used in Rus' starting from the 15th century. In court, justice was applied to those people who did not pay their debts. This action took place as follows: the debtor was brought early in the morning to the administrative hut, where specially trained citizens beat him with batogs until the defendant paid the debt or he was bailed. At that time, every hundred rubles of debt was equivalent to a month of legal rights, and to some extent this was fair. As a result, if the debt was never paid, the person’s property was taken away and transferred to the creditor.
Second version. Some debtors, realizing what punishment awaited them, and in order not to wait for torment, quickly ran away from punishment. In the end, their legs helped them escape. Therefore, people said, “there is no truth in our feet,” the debtor ran away.
Third version. In medieval Rus', peasants were essentially slaves. The landowners exercised their right to punish and pardon. When some valuable item disappeared from the estate, all the servants and local peasants were placed near the house, where they could spend a lot of time on their feet until they told the truth.
Decide for yourself whether to take these assumptions on faith. It seems to me a little strange in these and similar versions that they use negation. I mean it would be more accurate to say, " there's truth in my legs". Because in each of these three versions the truth was knocked out of its feet.
However, I have no alternative, so let it be as it will be. Although, if you think about it, why would an innocent person run away from trial, because the truth cannot be proven by escaping, right?
After reading this article, you learned There is no meaning at the feet of truth phraseological unit, and you are probably at a loss as to which of the presented options is genuine.
There are different ways you can invite a person to sit down. Sometimes they say: “There is no truth in our feet.” The meaning of a phraseological unit is quite transparent, and today we will look at this issue, and also talk about its origin and give examples.
What do Hollywood action films and phraseology have in common? Origin and meaning
Probably a strange couple, but we assure you: there is a connection. Now we say this to a traveler when he is tired, thereby inviting him to sit down and rest, but previously the phrase we are studying was the threshold of a not very pleasant process - torture. Then he was called “pravezh.” This is what they did when they wanted to get out of debt. Moreover, this action was legal and was carried out with the decision and permission of the court. If a person could not repay his debts, he received a portion of blows on the legs with iron rods or wooden sticks. What is noteworthy is that almost never this kind of punishment led to either disability or debt payment. Apparently, even the collectors of that time understood that a man without legs was of little use: he would definitely not return the money. This is where the expression “there is no truth in your feet” comes from. The meaning of the phraseological unit can be interpreted as follows: what is the point of standing if you can sit down? That is, holding the body in an upright position will change little, or rather, nothing at all.
And yes, Hollywood films. Their regular viewer knows that one of the surest ways to find out any valuable information is to subject a captured, usually positive character to a terrible test - torture. For example, one remembers the torment of Martin Riggs in the once popular film Lethal Weapon (1987). The policeman was tortured with electric shock. But this did not help the villains, and good still triumphed.
Recipe for longevity from W. Churchill
There is a well-known expression by W. Churchill, who preferred walking to running, the opportunity to sit down to walking, and the opportunity to lie down over walking, and at the same time lived quite a long time - 90 years. That is, Churchill is a historical confirmation of the wisdom that is inherent in the meaning of the phraseological unit “there is no truth at our feet.” Is it so? On the one hand, it is difficult to argue with the obvious, but on the other, long life is too complex a phenomenon to give unambiguous assessments.
Of course, modernity, with its cult of a healthy lifestyle, will never agree with the idea that you can live a long time and never visit the gym. Why do people play sports? They secretly hope that they will live happily ever after (in the sense that they will have excellent health). And Winston Churchill seems to mock today’s fashionable ideology and states: “I owe my longevity to sport. I have never dealt with it."
Who is right in this hypothetical debate?
A sedentary lifestyle, too, as we know, does not contain such and such special advantages, because it is the cause, for example, of cardiovascular diseases. But sports that are practiced thoughtlessly also do not promise long years, especially professional sports. Recently, you can increasingly hear about the death of professional athletes - both those who have already retired and very young ones. The truth in the dispute between Churchill and fans of a healthy lifestyle is somewhere in the middle: you can’t sit all the time, even if there is no truth in your legs (we have already revealed the meaning of the proverb), but you also shouldn’t exercise maniacally, because excess kills.
One more thing about longevity
In the wonderful book “Thanatology - the science of death” a lot is written, and about life too. Among other things, it says that there is no secret to longevity. That is, of course, if you do exercises in the morning or jog, it will not harm you, but there is also no guarantee that this will help avoid, for example, cancer or another terrible illness. Sports can be played solely for hedonistic reasons. In other words, if physical activity is a joy for a person. As practice suggests, if you do gymnastics or weightlifting for some other reason, then such motivation is not enough for a long time. And even more so, there is no need to load your body just to refute the truth contained in the meaning of the phraseological unit “there is no truth in your feet.”
The morality of phraseological units and genetic memory
Oddly enough, it was best expressed by the British Prime Minister during the Second World War: when you can sit down and not stand, you need to take advantage of this opportunity without delay. For a traveler who has covered a long road, the sentence spoken out loud will be sweeter than water: “Sit down, there is no truth in your feet.” The wanderer may not know what the expression means, but this is not so important, the main thing is that he can finally rest.
We don’t know whether genetic memory actually exists (C.-G. Jung, for example, argued that it does), but doubts about the content of the proverb arise because it seems somehow ambiguous and latently threatening. Remember the episode of the film “Brother”, when the ticket inspector asks stowaways to pay for their fare, and they tell him with jokes and jokes: “Sit down, there is no truth in your feet.” The meaning of the phrase and the meaning of the saying thus receive not the best advertising, because it is difficult for a person who does not fundamentally understand the message of the statement to discern whether the proposal is good or evil, since the source is decreed: malicious defaulters are clearly belligerent towards the controller.
We partly wanted to restore the good name of the saying and talk about its meaning and significance. Whether we succeeded is up to the reader to decide.
One of the most popular and plausible versions of the origin of the phraseological unit “there is no truth at our feet” is the one that dates us back to the history of Russia in the 15th-18th centuries. At that time, the term “right” was already used among us, but it was often replaced with the word “truth.” The historian Piotr Mroczek-Drozdowski wrote about this: “Everything that is legal is the truth.” From “truth” came another concept “pravezh” - collection, collection of debt.
According to Stepanova’s dictionary, often in order to collect this very debt, the offending debtor’s shoes were taken off and he was forced to stand barefoot in the cold snow until he returned the funds he had taken. And sometimes a person was simply hit on the heels or calves, thereby also extracting the borrowed money from him.
However, more often than not, people subjected to such torture did not give anything away, not out of greed or stubbornness, but simply because they did not have a penny. This is how the expression “there is no truth in your feet” appeared. They say, hit me, don’t hit me, but if there is no money, then you won’t be able to realize your right to it.