Gum Up the Works - Episode 3 of, "History of Everyday Sayings".

Host: Stephen Carter

Key Points:

* "Gum up the Works" - Used today to refer to anything or anyone who negatively affects a process or activity.

* According to the Chewing Gum Facts resource, people have been chewing gum in it’s natural forms for thousands of years.

* In North America, Native Americans chewed sap from spruce trees centuries ago.

* To find the origin of this sticky saying, let’s climb into our Wayback Time Travel Machine and set coordinates for the eastern part of what would become the United States in the 16th Century.

* The early colonies required a steady stream of wood and loggers developed tools and methods to harvest trees and turn the wood from those trees into homes, ship masts, furniture, and other products. But loggers were loath to cut red gum trees. The sap dulled saw blades and slowed their work.

* While loggers hated red gum trees, many early settlers discovered red gum trees offered a tasty treat for those willing to risk being covered from head to toe during what were called “gumming expeditions”.

* Youngsters were keen to acquire as much gum as possible, and that meant when they arrived home their mothers were faced with the tough work of removing gum residue from hair, skin, and clothing.

* In 1848, John Bacon Curtis produced the first commercial chewing gum he named, “The State of Main Pure Spruce Gum”.

* On July 27, 1869, Amos Tyler was awarded the first patent in the U.S. for chewing gum. But it was an Ohio Dentist by the name of William Finley Semple who applied Tyler’s patented process. In 1871, a patent was issued for a machine to produce gum. By 1888, chewing gum was sold through vending machines, with the first machine being located in the New York, City subway.

* With the 20th Century came continued development of gum manufacturing and packaging ushering in the chewing gum products we know today.

So, what about “gumming up the works”?

* If you’ve ever stepped on discarded chewing gum and tried to remove it from your shoe, you have first hand knowledge of how sticky and annoying it can be to remove gum from anything.

* According to Robert Hendrickson in his book, “The QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins”, as early as 1889, factory machines slowed or otherwise not functioning due to sticky substances clogging the works were said to be, “gummed up”.

* As best we can tell from available research, the saying, “Gum up the works” became common as chewing gum became popular and advanced manufacturing machinery for autos and other products was deployed during the later period of what is referred to as the Second Industrial Revolution.

* Over time, the saying went beyond machinery - as in the “works” - and was applied to anything or anyone who slowed down progress for any endeavor. It’s common today to hear someone who is negatively affecting a project or activity to be, “gumming up the works”.

To comment or ask questions about this or any other episode, email your host, Stephen Carter, at CarterMethod@gmail.com

References:

Robert Hendrickson, “The QPB Encyclopedia of Word Origins”; page 376, "gummed up”.

Webb Garrison, “Why You Say It”; page 105.

Website: Chewing Gum Facts: http://www.chewinggumfacts.com/chewing-gum-history/history-of-chewing-gum/

Website: English for Students: http://www.english-for-students.com/Gum.html

Website: Wood Splitters Direct, “The Amazing History of Logging in the United States”: https://www.woodsplitterdirect.com/the-amazing-history-of-logging-in-the-united-states/

Mic: BY