Does anybody know the source of this idiom or have an explanation of how it originated? I know it means that the speaker does not trust the person in question, but I want to know the etymology of the idiom. How did it mutate from something literal into this? Obviously trust is not measured in the same way as distance, so I want to understand the correlation in this context.
Learn English – To trust someone as far as you can throw them
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To "pull one's leg", as a saying, does seem to have the etymology you describe; every source I can find states that it dates back to the mid-1800s in England, and refers to physically tripping up another person, which puts him off balance, possibly makes him collide with others in awkward ways, and generally makes him look foolish. It quickly evolved to mean achieving that result - making a person look foolish - regardless of the specific means used. The most popular means to do so is to tell a deliberate plausible non-truth which, if believed, would lead the person react foolishly.
"Pulling one's plonker" by contrast seems to be a much newer term, still considered slang and rare in American usage (it's most common in British and Australian vernacular). It's one of many examples of introducing a sexual connotation to otherwise "innocent" idioms and sayings.
According to Eric Partridge's A dictionary of slang and unconventional English, Hong Kong dog is a tropical fever, and the term is originally 20th century Royal Navy slang.
His source for this is 'Taffrail', or Capt. H Taprell Dorling, DSO, RN, in Carry On, 1916, especially the article 'the Language of the Navy, originally published not later than 1915.
The term is comparable with Malta dog, another local name for traveller's diarrhoea, is also from Royal Navy sailors.
Hong Kong dog can be found as far back as 1899. The Philadelphia medical journal says:
Sprue (psilosis linguae, Hong-Kong dog, Ceylon sore mouth, etc.) is a chronic catarrh of the alimentary canal from the mouth to the anus, accompanied by tenderness of the tongue, diarrhea of a special character, and an atony and ...
Also from 1899, Madam Izàn: a tourist story says:
Cholera at Port Said, leprosy at Colombo — I heard of a family who had caught it in their washed linen — the plague here. Then the fog. And besides that, a fever they call the Hong Kong dog, which is nearly as bad as the plague
William Ernest Russell Martin's 1924 The adventures of a naval paymaster has a whole chapter on Hong Kong dog, unfortunately not readable via Google Books.
But why dog? According to slang lexicographer and author of Green's Dictionary of Slang:
The primary divisions are place-related, images of dancing or fast movement [e.g. Aztec two-step, Greek gallop, Rome runs, Tokyo trots], and rhyming slang usually based on 'the shits'.
As for dog, there's anecdotal sources describing either being "bitten" by the dog, or the onomatopoeic "barking" noises you made in corners when you were suffering from it.
At All Costs by Sam Moses describes Malta dog during WWII:
Sand flies flew out of the cracks in the limestone, carrying their fever. Cockroaches, bedbugs, and lice ruled. The "Malta Dog," a virulent form of dysentery, barked in the corners. The hunger never went away.
Band of Eagles by Frank Barnard also describes WWII pilots falling sick:
"Bitten at last by the Malta Dog"
Some forum postings agree:
The "Malta Dog," a virulent form of dysentery, When you got it you barked in the corners.
Malta dog - was what you were bitten by in flight the morning after a night in downtown Valetta in "the Gut", after consumption of copious quantities of Cisk or Hopleaf beer; or (God forbid), Farmers' Wife wine. Usually comprised of the runs interspersed with the odd projectile vomit, both accompanied by the "cheese-wire round the forehead" headache. If you had a good aim you could throw up out the beam lookout window of a Shackleton with little risk of blow-back. Thank the Lord those days are over.
Malta was the headquarters of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet from 1814 until the mid-1930s, so there was a large navy presence. This ties in with the Royal Navy roots in Partridge's etymology for Hong Kong dog.
Best Answer
I can't offer an authoritive source. However there is another expression, 'I can't trust him out of my sight' that makes the meaning obvious.
Most children go through a stage where their parents must keep a careful eye on them to prevent the child getting up to mischief. The parent might say, "Now he is a toddler, I can't trust him of out of my sight. He is always poking his fingers into everything and I'm worried he may electrocute himself or pull the bookshelves on top of him." This literally means that the parent is happy only when they can see the child.
When you can trust someone as far as you can throw them, it is just an exaggerated form of the previous expression. It means we can trust them at zero distance, i.e. not at all. We usually say this about adults and of course most people cannot throw another adult any distance at all.
EDIT
I've found some more evidence as to how the phrase may have developed.
P.S.
However A Dictionary of Catch Phrases By Eric Partridge traces it back to 1870.
P.P.S. I think I've beaten Eric Partridge with this !
Somethin furthur,' siz I, ' than I'd trust you.' 'How far is that?' siz he. “Just as far, then, siz I, as I could throw a bull by the tail. The Westminster Review - Volume 9 - Page 434 - 1828