Timeline for Meaning of the idiom "keeping my head out of the oven"
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
22 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 14 at 6:46 | comment | added | hkBst | Indeed, my first association was with Hansel and Gretel and trying to keep someone from cooking you in an oven, figuratively of course. | |
| May 14 at 6:45 | comment | added | hkBst | Wikipedia: "... coal gas ... consisted of a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in roughly equal quantities by volume. Thus, coal gas is highly toxic.". Alternatively "Natural gas (also called fossil gas, methane gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane (97%) in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes.". So trying to commit suicide by sticking your head in an unlit natural gas oven seems difficult. This probably also explains the declining popularity of the expression. | |
| Apr 2, 2013 at 0:52 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
eliminated the type of gas.
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| Apr 2, 2013 at 0:51 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @KitFox: I changed it to "gas". The exact type doesn't really matter for this answer. | |
| Apr 2, 2013 at 0:24 | comment | added | Kit Z. Fox♦ | I rolled back the edit, since this seemed odd to me. Feel free to undo it if you agree with the change @Peter. | |
| Apr 2, 2013 at 0:22 | history | rollback | Kit Z. Fox♦ |
Rollback to Revision 3
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| Apr 2, 2013 at 0:04 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @Mitch: Coal gas was apparently used in both the U.K. and the U.S. before it was replaced by natural gas. Wikipedia says it's considerably more poisonous. | |
| Apr 1, 2013 at 22:22 | comment | added | Mitch | What is 'coal gas'? Is that the BrE term for the AmE 'natural gas'? Why was this changed by 'Community'? | |
| S Apr 1, 2013 at 21:38 | history | suggested | CommunityBot | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
The gas that used to be used was coal gas, not natural gas. Natural gas is what's used now and is a whole lot less lethal.
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| Apr 1, 2013 at 21:33 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Apr 1, 2013 at 21:38 | |||||
| Feb 12, 2013 at 22:54 | comment | added | sourcenouveau | Sylvia Plath, an American poet, committed suicide by this method in 1963. | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 20:24 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Having lost a few friends & relatives to suicide myself over the years, I'm well aware how serious things can get. But I firmly believe talking helps (it's mostly been "the quiet ones"), and I often think a flippant attitude in company is safer than deadly seriousness in isolation. | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 17:56 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @FumbleFingers: I definitely remember putting one's "head in the oven" being used for suicide when I was a child, so it used to be understood in the U.S. as well. But this expression surely is slowly dying. | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 15:31 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I don't know if it would even be understood in the US, but in my neck of the woods we haven't spoken of gas ovens or car exhausts for decades. We just say it's lucky you can never find a Stanley Knife when you "need" one. | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 15:25 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @FumbleFingers: Thanks. Everybody has very good points about the seriousness of suicide. I've changed my answer accordingly. | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 15:21 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 35 characters in body
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| Sep 7, 2011 at 15:16 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 35 characters in body
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| Sep 7, 2011 at 14:32 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Absolutely agree with @T.E.D. that such a reply should be interpreted as meaning "Things are worse than you probably think". Most likely the other person had no idea things might be so bad that John would even have thought of suicide. Obviously in reality it's just light-hearted exaggeration, but many a true word is spoken in jest, so I'd still tend to think that even if John isn't really thinking about ending it all, he's probably not feeling too good about his life right now. | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 13:37 | vote | accept | sourcenouveau | ||
| Sep 7, 2011 at 13:27 | comment | added | sourcenouveau | More gruesome than I expected! | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 13:27 | comment | added | T.E.D. | +1 For getting the literal meaning right. However, what they are actually saying here is not that things themselves aren't horrible (as you imply), but rather that they are managing not to get so depressed about it that they commit suicide. Its more a statement of perseverence. | |
| Sep 7, 2011 at 13:24 | history | answered | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |