"Just chalk it up as an odd case and move on" (source).
"I would chalk it up to more ignorance than apathy…" (source).
Best Answer
J.S. Farmer and W.E. Henley, Slang and Its Analogues (1890), says that "to chalk up, or to chalk it up" is "To credit, or take credit; to put to one's account." In the context of tavern bills, "take credit" means to accept a promise to pay such a debt. The book then offers three historical examples of this usage (with the year given first):
[1597] 1st Pt. Return Parnass. I., i.. 451. "All my debts stande chaukt upon the poste for liquor." [M.]
[1611] Chapman, May-Day, Act I., p. 278 (Plays, 1874). "Faith sir, she [hostess] has chalked up twenty shillings, already, and swears she will chalk no more."
[1843] Punch's Almanack, Jan. ... "When you wish for beer, resort freely to the chalk, and go on, getting as much as you can upon this principle, until it becomes unproductive, when you may try it in another quarter."
Slang and Its Analogues also reports that "chalking the lamppost" was mid-nineteenth-century slang in Philadelphia for bribery.
Christine Ammer, American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms (1997), says that "chalk up" has two meanings, with different dates of emergence in English:
Score or earn, as in "She chalked up enough points to be seeded first in the tournament." This term alludes to recording accounts (and later scores) in chalk on a slate [c. 1700] 2. Credit or ascribe, as "They chalked their success up to experience." [First half of 1900s]
In my view, Ammer invites misinterpretation of the common phrase "chalk it up to experience" by associating it with a success to be explained, rather than presenting it as an attempt to put a positive spin on something more or less unpleasant. I would have said that "chalk it up to experience" means something like "consider it part of the ongoing price you pay to become wiser and more experienced." I notice that FumbleFingers has made a similar point about that phrase.
Finally, Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1961), reports that in the UK in the 1920s, "chalk it up!" could mean "Just look at that!" He cites J. Manchon's Le Slang (1923) as the source of this information.
1946 Sunday Times-Signal (Zanesville,
Ohio) 12 May I. 7/1 [They] told
citizens here that somebody was ‘out
of pocket’ in Bowie and Miller
counties the nights of the killings,
and urged them to recall whether
anyone they knew was missing on those
dates. 1973 J. PETERSON Sicilian
Slaughter 53 Her hands shook as she
dialed. But her connection was out of
pocket. 1974 Anderson (S. Carolina)
Independent 20 Apr. 1A/1 If you..have
ever been sick and the only doctor is
out of pocket for the weekend, then
you know we need more doctors. 2002 A.
PHILLIPS Prague III. viii. 229
Five-day weekend for me, Charlie,
starting in eighteen minutes. I'll be
out of pocket until Tuesday.
I first heard this in the US Southern states, and some attest to it being common on the East Coast. This is a regionalism, and while quite old, it should be considered informal and would not be universally understood by all US speakers. Those on the West Coast, for example, would be largely unfamiliar with it, and only use "out of pocket" to refer to self-expense payments.
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.
Best Answer
J.S. Farmer and W.E. Henley, Slang and Its Analogues (1890), says that "to chalk up, or to chalk it up" is "To credit, or take credit; to put to one's account." In the context of tavern bills, "take credit" means to accept a promise to pay such a debt. The book then offers three historical examples of this usage (with the year given first):
Slang and Its Analogues also reports that "chalking the lamppost" was mid-nineteenth-century slang in Philadelphia for bribery.
Christine Ammer, American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms (1997), says that "chalk up" has two meanings, with different dates of emergence in English:
In my view, Ammer invites misinterpretation of the common phrase "chalk it up to experience" by associating it with a success to be explained, rather than presenting it as an attempt to put a positive spin on something more or less unpleasant. I would have said that "chalk it up to experience" means something like "consider it part of the ongoing price you pay to become wiser and more experienced." I notice that FumbleFingers has made a similar point about that phrase.
Finally, Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1961), reports that in the UK in the 1920s, "chalk it up!" could mean "Just look at that!" He cites J. Manchon's Le Slang (1923) as the source of this information.