Pandemonic Scribbles!

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Sunday, 23 August 2009

vocab for the week 13

What is the meaning and origin of the expression ‘tally ho’?

The expression comes from the cruel world of fox hunting. When a hunter sighted the fleeing fox, he shouted ‘tally ho’; this was supposedly to alert the dogs (hounds) which had been brought along to chase and kill the fox. I understand that ‘tally-ho’ is actually a corruption of the French expression ‘ty-hillaut a qui forheur’: this was shouted by hunters in France when they spotted a deer.

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