Way to Surprise Us, Humanity

[00:00] Well, since this game is out of hand, should we do an under-google?
[00:02] Yeah, I think we should.
[00:03] Ooh, should we do an under-google-ables?
[00:17] That was the play of it.
[00:18] Super excited.
[00:19] You told us we had to, sir.
[00:21] So we said we signed up for it.
[00:26] In the end, it's going to be better and more true than Google can give you.
[00:32] At church this morning, shout out to Pentecost.
[00:35] Shout out, Jabez.
[00:37] And the minister said that he was at the end of his rope.
[00:45] Ooh, this is going to get morbid fast.
[00:48] Yeah, this is not going to be good, man.
[00:51] And I thought, when I hear that phrase, I've always envisioned someone like climbing down
[01:03] like a cliffside and then running out of rope.
[01:07] And so they're kind of just stuck there.
[01:08] But that's what I envision.
[01:11] But that's not what the phrase means, right?
[01:14] It means that you're exhausted and frustrated and angry.
[01:18] The end of your rope is something else than just running out of rope while you're descending
[01:25] a mountain.
[01:27] So what do you guys think?
[01:28] I mean, you would probably be frustrated and angry and not wanting to continue on if you
[01:34] were on a mountain and you ran out of rope.
[01:37] That's always what I envisioned.
[01:38] And I just wondered if that was right or whether I'm just envisioning the wrong things.
[01:43] That is one possibility of where one would use rope and running out of it would be a
[01:49] bad thing.
[01:50] That would be a bad thing.
[01:51] When you said it, my mind immediately went to hanging.
[01:54] Yeah, me too.
[01:55] Me as well.
[01:56] So, but why would that be the end of your rope?
[02:04] You are on the end of that rope.
[02:06] It's over, son.
[02:08] Okay, so maybe it was easy?
[02:13] Well, I mean, but at the same, it's different, right?
[02:18] That's what I'm saying.
[02:19] Like the cinema, I mean, you know, it's just, it's, you know, like you think like a parent
[02:24] would say this, like, all right, kid, I'm at the end of my rope.
[02:27] Yeah.
[02:28] Meaning I'm done.
[02:29] Yeah.
[02:30] Yeah.
[02:31] I'm over this thing.
[02:32] Yeah.
[02:33] Quit being a brat.
[02:34] Otherwise I'm going to lose my shit.
[02:35] Right?
[02:36] Or I'm going to string you up.
[02:37] Put you on the end of a rope.
[02:38] Yeah.
[02:39] No, but that's, I'm, it's not, the phrase isn't, you know, I'm going to put you on
[02:42] the end of a rope.
[02:43] The phrase isn't, you're at the end of your rope.
[02:44] Right.
[02:45] It's at the, I'm at the end of my rope.
[02:46] Right.
[02:47] Or you're at the end of my rope.
[02:48] Right.
[02:49] It's not that phrase either.
[02:50] Okay.
[02:51] You're at the end of my rope would be a different thing.
[02:53] Right.
[02:54] Well, cause I was also thinking like, you know, like when you throw a line to somebody
[03:00] in the water, you know, and like, it's just not long enough and you're like, I'm
[03:06] at the end of my rope.
[03:07] Yeah, I hate it when that happens.
[03:08] Yeah, exactly.
[03:09] Like, I can't quite get them.
[03:10] Can't quite catch them.
[03:11] I'm at the end of my rope.
[03:12] It's as long as my rope goes.
[03:14] So I was thinking it might be something nautical, but yeah, less that maybe then, you
[03:19] know, there are complex knots and things that sometimes need to be done.
[03:24] And so if you don't have enough rope to complete whatever you're doing, that would be very
[03:31] frustrating and potentially very dangerous or the, or you're in too deep of water such
[03:37] that the anchor won't, can't go to the bottom or something like that.
[03:41] That's the thing.
[03:42] That's the thing.
[03:43] Or maybe it's, maybe it's pirates keel hauling people.
[03:46] I don't know.
[03:47] It's always keel hauler.
[03:54] I hope it's pirates.
[03:55] Is there a way this could be falconry?
[03:57] Is this like a...
[03:58] Why not?
[03:59] A little falcon leash.
[04:01] Yeah, the old falcon leash.
[04:04] Falcons at the end of his rope can't go any further.
[04:09] What about that?
[04:10] What about like animals, like a dog?
[04:14] Or like, you know, or cattle wrangling.
[04:18] Or like cowboys.
[04:21] Like cowboys.
[04:22] Like if I've got my...
[04:25] Is that like your catchphrase after you like rope the bull?
[04:29] I got him on the end of my rope.
[04:31] But see, that would be like a positive thing.
[04:34] Yeah.
[04:37] When do we think this came about?
[04:39] Have people been using this since like the middle ages?
[04:44] When were kids invented?
[04:46] Yeah.
[04:47] When did parents start being at the end of their rope?
[04:58] Rope goes back a long, long time.
[05:00] Right, Harper?
[05:01] I mean, rope is like one of the first things.
[05:03] Yeah.
[05:04] As soon as you could braid things, you probably want to make rope.
[05:07] Yeah.
[05:12] This is like pre-civilization.
[05:13] We have rope.
[05:14] Yeah.
[05:15] Yeah.
[05:16] Agreed.
[05:17] And also, even if you didn't make rope at that point, you still could use vines and
[05:20] things like rope.
[05:21] Right.
[05:22] Right.
[05:23] I think it's one of the first human tools, probably.
[05:32] Yes.
[05:33] Along with the bucket.
[05:34] That's right.
[05:35] That's right.
[05:36] It's like ropes and buckets.
[05:37] Ropes and buckets.
[05:38] Ropes and buckets.
[05:39] We're the technology and a wheel for like millennia.
[05:42] We had fire.
[05:43] I think that would get you...
[05:44] Nice.
[05:45] That definitely gets you in a better place from where you were.
[05:48] Ropes?
[05:49] Ropes and buckets and wheels?
[05:50] Oh, yeah.
[05:51] No, I think things are...
[05:52] Things are getting better.
[05:53] Yeah.
[05:54] Things are happening.
[05:55] So, okay.
[05:56] So, I suppose...
[05:57] Well, okay.
[05:58] Maybe that's it, right?
[05:59] So, if you spend a bunch of time making rope, and then you need to do this project, and
[06:03] you didn't make enough rope, and you're like, God damn it, I need the 50 feet.
[06:08] I only made 40 feet.
[06:09] Exactly.
[06:10] I'm at the end of my rope.
[06:11] So, maybe this is very early on, because there's not infinite rope.
[06:13] It's like, it's just the rope that we have in the town.
[06:16] It's just, it's only 40 feet.
[06:17] Yeah.
[06:18] You're not going to the hardware store and picking up more rope.
[06:20] Right.
[06:21] Okay, so what are we...
[06:22] Certainly.
[06:23] Was it infinite rope?
[06:24] One of your bands?
[06:25] I'm going to go 1700s.
[06:34] I feel like, you know, maybe it was a vernacular thing, but I still think somehow this is probably
[06:41] nautical.
[06:42] So, I'm thinking British 1700s during their maritime heyday.
[06:47] I like that.
[06:48] I like that.
[06:49] I'm going to go with the Wild West.
[06:51] I'm going to go, this is a lasso cowboy thing.
[06:55] Their rope is long enough to catch the cow.
[07:00] Based on the history of the under Googles, I'm going to say that this was middle ages
[07:06] and it refers to dangings.
[07:09] I think you're probably right.
[07:12] Joey, do you have another opinion on this?
[07:14] I like all of these.
[07:18] None of them are descending a mountain, though, with the side of the mountain, wasn't it?
[07:23] No.
[07:24] Like, people trying to climb Everest.
[07:27] Yeah, and I feel like it's ambiguous enough that it's not super recent, so I'm going
[07:33] to go...
[07:34] Oh, well, like, what do you mean ambiguous enough?
[07:36] Like, rope is ambiguous?
[07:37] Well, no.
[07:38] I mean, for me, it's not super obvious to me.
[07:47] This also could be, like, a French animal or something.
[07:51] You know, we've had several of those, like, where it's just turned into something good.
[07:56] Sure.
[07:58] What about when they used to have people's belts were made of rope?
[08:03] Oh, you think people were, like, taking off their belts and hooking up or something?
[08:07] Or I'm at the end of my rope?
[08:09] No, I was thinking, like, I got too fat to make my belt work anymore.
[08:13] Okay.
[08:14] Okay.
[08:15] I mean, that's...
[08:16] It's not bad.
[08:17] It does.
[08:18] It's understandable.
[08:19] I'm going to go with 1600s.
[08:21] My belt doesn't fit anymore because I got...
[08:24] 1600s?
[08:25] Fat.
[08:26] Fat.
[08:27] Okay.
[08:28] I'm changing my pick.
[08:29] It's not...
[08:30] It's not...
[08:31] You can have cowboys if you want.
[08:32] I'm going 1600s fat.
[08:33] You're going 1600s, comma, fat.
[08:34] I'm going 1800s, comma, cowboys.
[08:35] Cowboys.
[08:36] Okay.
[08:37] I think we're all going to spy here as you google this.
[08:42] Well, we're dancing around it there.
[08:45] What I'm reading is that the idiom alludes to a tether, which is a rope tied to an animal
[08:54] to limit its movement and keep it from wandering off.
[08:58] The animal can only graze as far as the rope allows.
[09:01] Thus, once it has reached the end of its tether, it has run out of options and resources
[09:06] and is bound to become frustrated.
[09:09] We did dance around that without getting it.
[09:12] We used it since the late 1600s.
[09:16] That was according to idioms online.
[09:19] 1600s.
[09:20] But it wasn't fat, though.
[09:22] It was animals.
[09:23] No.
[09:24] That's correct.
[09:25] Right.
[09:26] Had we known that a sister phrase of this is at the end of one's tether, we may have
[09:31] found this quite a lot easier.
[09:33] Oh, that would have been a lot easier.
[09:34] Yeah.
[09:35] I did not know that that was a phrase.
[09:36] We don't hang out with enough British people.
[09:38] You know the Brits are saying that.
[09:40] There's no Americans saying tether.
[09:41] I'm at the end of my tether.
[09:44] Tether is a British phrase.
[09:47] The end of one's tether is primarily a British phrase from the old Swedish word
[09:51] Törðr.
[09:52] I pronounced that perfectly.
[09:55] Sure.
[09:56] The idea...
[09:57] I thought...
[09:58] I found at least one example of someone claiming that the idiom is of someone
[10:08] who has been thrown a safety rope and has run out of length.
[10:13] So that's at least close to Coalson's life.
[10:20] But none of these are about hangings, apparently.
[10:23] No.
[10:24] Surprisingly, yeah.
[10:25] Way to surprise us, humanity.
[10:29] It's the first time.
[10:30] Good job, people.
[10:33] So we're going with 1600s?
[10:36] Yep.
[10:37] Yep.
[10:38] And tethered animals.
[10:39] Tethered animals.
[10:40] 16...
[10:41] So my guess is that it was 1600s in the Americas, but at the end of my tether, going back much
[10:51] further in Midiville, England, would be my guess.
[10:57] Sorry to hear about your pastor.
[11:00] Hopefully he's not at the end of his rope anymore and has found more things to eat