Posted on Thursday, 22nd October 2009 by Interloper
After cleaning the house yesterday I referred to it as being “spick-and-span” (which could be something of an overstatement, but these things are all relative). Anyway, that thought was enough to make me ponder what exactly “spick-and-span” actually even means. So I decided to find out.
Spick-and-span (sometimes rendered spic-and-span thanks to the hard work of this company) is an idiom, which means that the actual meaning of the expression cannot be discerned from the words alone.
Specifically, spick-and-span is a shortened form of the phrase “spick-and-span new”, which, let’s face it, just sounds stupid. The term has its roots in the 16th Century, when “spick” meant “spike” and “span” meant “chip” (don’t ask me). In this context, the phrase was used to describe newly built boats, which were described as being spike-and-chip. This referred to the presence of spikes and wood chips that remained after the building process.
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