How Does This Get Back to Horse Racing?

[00:00] Coalson, do you have an Undo Google Bowl for us this week? I think we can, I'm in a
[00:06] mood to be helpful. I've been, you know, pessimistic here for the last, I don't know,
[00:10] show and a half. I want to bring some joy into the world, what you got for me?
[00:15] Oh, we do an Undo Google Bowls? That was the play of Super Excited.
[00:32] You told us we had to.
[00:34] You said we signed up for it. In the end, it's going to be better and more true than Google can give you.
[00:44] So this week I'd like to start with the off-the-cuff. Where's the phrase off-the-cuff come from?
[00:53] What does it mean? When did it come about? Off-the-cuff.
[00:59] Off-the-cuff meaning like typically referring to a remark, an off-the-cuff remark.
[01:05] Yeah.
[01:07] It's like not planned.
[01:09] Yes. I think of it that way as sort of an unplanned interaction, usually verbal.
[01:20] And quick sort of, I guess, right? Or like some connotation of quickness to it, maybe.
[01:26] Yeah, and you can kind of, something you can dismiss a little bit.
[01:30] Oh, that was just off-the-cuff.
[01:32] Good call.
[01:36] So my mind goes to two things, which are magicians and gunslingers that might do something off-the-cuff.
[01:46] Where they would throw something at you off-the-cuff.
[01:50] Or ninjas.
[01:52] Yeah, ninjas.
[01:54] Throwing stars off-the-cuff.
[01:57] Yeah, it felt British to me anytime we're talking about clothing.
[02:03] So I would lean towards magicians out of those two.
[02:10] Okay. Yeah, maybe like a car dealer.
[02:14] Well, we've talked about this before. Magicians were like the TV of the 1800s, so everybody went to see the magicians.
[02:22] Is that where you would pull a card out of your cuff or something like that for the trick?
[02:27] Something like that, yeah. Like things are going sideways in your act, so you're like,
[02:32] let me pull this flower out of my cuff, just to get that audience back on your side.
[02:38] Okay. I don't know.
[02:40] But then the phrase would be out of my cuff.
[02:42] Yeah, sure.
[02:46] What about a cuff link? Is this involved in a cuff link?
[02:49] That's a good question.
[02:51] Is that what you pull off your cuff, cuff link?
[02:58] Yeah, maybe to like, if you didn't have money to pay a debt, you'd give your cuff link.
[03:04] Shiny thing to distract people?
[03:06] Or throw at them.
[03:10] Like a Chinese.
[03:12] Like a Chinese stuff.
[03:14] Like a ninja.
[03:21] Did you have any theories? Cuff links?
[03:24] No, I don't at all. This is why I come to you guys.
[03:28] Joey, I feel like we haven't quite nailed down the definition, because you mentioned something that was able to be dismissed.
[03:40] Not just an off-the-cuff remark was kind of what Jason and I were going with.
[03:47] And you were like, ah, you could just, if it's off the cuff, it's less important.
[03:53] No, I mean, I guess maybe something that was not given much thought.
[04:00] Okay.
[04:01] Maybe that's what I need. Maybe more that way.
[04:03] Yeah.
[04:05] So it's kind of the last second thing.
[04:09] With little preparation kind of thing.
[04:13] A little forethought.
[04:15] Well, sometimes I feel like you hear those when it's like maybe, like in an interview maybe,
[04:21] maybe a lot of it, maybe much of it seems like pretty controlled and scripted,
[04:26] but then you'll hear like an off-the-cuff remark, which is like something just like, oh,
[04:30] something like, just quickly like, oh, just kind of throw it in there, kind of thing.
[04:34] Just a little extra thing that's just sort of like a little...
[04:37] Well, that makes me think of sort of orators, whatever.
[04:41] Like if you've written a speech and you're reading this stuff, this scripted stuff,
[04:47] and then you think of something and it's not on your card, it's off the cuff.
[04:55] I don't know.
[04:56] So if you're tailoring something, if you're tailoring a suit,
[05:01] the only part of the undershirt that would be visible is the cuff, right?
[05:06] So everything else presumably would require less attention, perhaps,
[05:12] if it's off the cuff and not visible.
[05:15] Mm, I see.
[05:17] So the rest of the shirt is off the cuff.
[05:19] Potentially.
[05:22] Like the sleeves, you mean?
[05:24] Mm-hmm.
[05:25] Okay.
[05:26] So if there were imperfections there, it would not be as noticeable.
[05:32] Mm, okay.
[05:34] That's interesting.
[05:35] I like that a lot.
[05:36] I think tailoring is rarely the answer, but I like it.
[05:39] Yeah, how does this get back to horse racing?
[05:41] Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
[05:43] So if you think it's English, I'm inclined to side with you on that.
[05:49] What era are we talking?
[05:51] Like this is Victorian or sooner?
[05:55] I like Victorian.
[05:56] Many people have cuffs.
[05:57] Yeah.
[05:58] I mean, yeah, they definitely had cuffs in the Victorian era, for sure.
[06:02] Doily cuffs, I feel like.
[06:06] Yeah.
[06:07] Real weird cuffs, puffy cuffs.
[06:09] Yeah.
[06:11] Fisticuffs.
[06:14] Mm.
[06:15] What about fisticuffs?
[06:17] And then, so, okay, so it's not Shakespeare.
[06:23] It's probably later than that.
[06:25] This is like a Dickens thing or something.
[06:28] Yeah, it's newer.
[06:30] Okay.
[06:31] I'm feeling Shakespeare.
[06:35] No, you think it goes back to Shakespeare.
[06:37] Yeah, I do.
[06:40] We haven't had Shakespeare hasn't won.
[06:42] Yeah, we haven't had Shakespeare in a while.
[06:43] I like Shakespeare.
[06:46] And we're just saying that it's either...
[06:48] If it's magicians, it's later, of course.
[06:50] But if it's speech-giving, that could definitely go in with Shakespeare.
[06:55] Because it didn't have magicians when Shakespeare was around?
[06:58] What was the...
[06:59] When did magicians go back to the beginning of the time?
[07:01] I mean, their big heyday was the, you know, early 1800s.
[07:07] I mean, 1800s.
[07:09] Golden everywhere.
[07:11] That's right.
[07:12] That's right.
[07:13] But I'm thinking, I really do like the orator in a play, maybe, with their lines.
[07:19] Ah, okay, yes.
[07:20] And they forget their lines, and they have to pull something off their cuff.
[07:25] Or pull their cuff up to where they wrote it down on their wrist.
[07:34] So, this is just for no reason at all.
[07:38] But, you know, the soap operas, they write the script the day before they actually do them.
[07:45] They crank these soap operas out.
[07:46] And so, apparently, in any set in a soap opera, there's just lines taped to the other side of a lamp
[07:52] and the other side of a stuff, because no one has time to memorize their lines.
[07:56] Fun fact.
[07:59] It's off the cuff.
[08:01] Off the lamp.
[08:03] The first hit I got suggested that it was 1938 American English colloquial suggesting an actor
[08:11] or speaker reading from notes jotted on his shirt sleeve rather than learning lines.
[08:16] So, Coalson would have been right, but American and not English.
[08:21] But let's try to back that up.
[08:22] That's from Quora.
[08:24] Ooh, boy.
[08:25] All right.
[08:26] I don't know if this is right or wrong, but this is giving Charlie Chaplin the credit.
[08:32] Are you seeing this?
[08:33] I'm seeing it as well.
[08:36] And Charlie Chaplin's classic film Modern Times featured a scene where Chaplin's tramp
[08:41] writes lyrics on his shirt cuffs only to have them go flying off once he hits the stage,
[08:46] leaving him to improvise to hilarious effect.
[08:50] And Chaplin starts a story with an idea that works out each scene as it comes along.
[08:58] Famously improvisational? Improvisational.
[09:05] There you go.
[09:07] All right.
[09:08] Charlie Chaplin for the win.
[09:09] That's pretty dope.
[09:11] Nice.
[09:12] Ever had Charlie Chaplin win before?
[09:13] No.
[09:15] He was due.
[09:16] Right?
[09:17] Yeah, for sure.
[09:19] Yeah.
[09:22] Jeez.
[09:23] Disposable cuffs were a thing, apparently.
[09:26] Or detachable.
[09:27] Oh, yeah, they used to have those weird little paper thingies.
[09:31] All right.
[09:32] All right.
[09:33] There you go.
[09:35] You're welcome.
[09:38] Yeah, I'm reading some more stuff that, yeah, they're paper removable cuffs.
[09:45] Might have been an origin for it in the 1800s, but it's definitely popularized by
[09:52] Charlie Chaplin.
[09:54] You could write notes on your removable cuffs.
[10:00] But again, I'm just on chat boards at this point.
[10:04] I mean, that makes more sense than writing notes on your finely tailored shirt.
[10:09] Yes, yes, yes, it definitely does.
[10:14] I just have a few words I just want to remember for my speech.
[10:18] My really nice shirt.
[10:20] That's all a little weird, the wear paper, but, you know, 1800s, you know?
[10:24] Right.
[10:26] Well, nicely done, gentlemen, as always.
[10:30] I feel like we sort of nailed it.
[10:33] Yeah.
[10:34] Yeah.
[10:35] That's par for the course.