Before I get into my topic for this week, let me express my great sadness over the retirement of Pat Zechman as the editor of the Southern Standard. She has been a constant supporter and friend for the past five plus years that I have been writing this column for the Southern Standard and the Smithville Review. Many people will miss you, Pat. I wish you the very best in your retirement.  

This week's hyperbolic expression is used to describe a person’s extreme timidity. It refers to someone who is easily alarmed, and the least bit of noise or disturbance is enough to fill him or her with gripping fear. The basis of this is traced back to William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, I, ii:   

Por: “… Palentine, he is every man in no man, if a Trassell sing he fals straight a capring he will fence with his own shadow.”

The earliest known citation in print of the actual saying, however, is from "Atlas Japannensis, Being Remarkable Addresses by Way of Embassy from the East India Company of the United Provinces to the Emperor of Japan certified in several Writings and Journals by Arnoldis Montanis English’d and Adom’d" by John Ogilby published in London in 1670:

“…and when he goes to drink, he first stirs the Water with his Snout, that he may not swallow any hurtful Creature; which is more credible than what Theophila'tus Simocatus faith, That the Beast stirs the Water because he is afraid of his own Shadow.” 

If you have a phrase you would like to see featured here, please text Stan at 931-212-3303 or email him at stan@stclair.net