etymologyidiom-requestsidioms
I recently came across this expression:
eat my hat
I googled and found some results. I agree that eating a hat is not easy. But why hat? They could have chosen shoes, gloves, shirt, to name a few.
What is the origin of this idiom? And are there any alternatives?
The "why hat" was addressed in a comment by mplungjan
In 1876 most men in the US wore hats. Not all wore gloves and you do not want to eat a shoe. a) it is not very hygienic, b) you need it on your foot.–
There's a related discussion over at The Phrase Finder:
I think it comes from a time (not long ago) when everyone wore hats, and many of those hats were specific to a given trade, official position or function. So someone who had several roles would have several hats and would wear the appropriate one for the occasion. [...] "which hat will you be wearing?" would mean "in which capacity will you be attending?"
As you can see, it's just speculation without citing any sources, so I have looked it up in the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, and here's what it has to say:
wear another hat Also, wear a different hat or two hats; wear more than one hat. Function in a different or more than one capacity or position, as in I'm wearing another hat today; yesterday I was a housewife, today I'm an attorney, or I wear two hats—are you asking me as a member of the city council or as a storeowner? This metaphoric expression alludes to headgear worn for different occupations. [Mid-1900s]
So it's indeed a metaphor, and a relatively young one.
Since the earliest examples of this phrase in print have no specific mention of fighting, my bet is on the start-of-a-race explanation from James Rogers' Dictionary of Cliches:
DROP OF A HAT - Acting readily or on some single signal. In the 19th century it was occasionally the practice in the United States to signal the start of a fight or a race by dropping a hat or sweeping it downward while holding it in the hand. The quick response to the signal found its way into the language for any action that begins quickly without much need for prompting.
The earliest reference I could find was from a hearing on a bankruptcy law from an 1837 Register of Debates in Congress:
Best Answer
A quick search yields:
MEANING:
Having confidence in a specific outcome; being almost sure about something.
When a person makes a strong assumption, they may use popular idioms and phrases like this one to describe their feelings of near certainty.
ORIGIN:
Know your phrase
phrases.org.uk
A simple alternative of "to eat one's hat" is "to be very surprised".