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This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, including yours.

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There's some of our favorites.

And up next, a recurring favorite.

We continue our series about the curious origins of everyday sayings.

Here to join us again is Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slice from his ultimate guide to understanding these many mysteries of the English language.

Here's Andrew.

Put a sock in it means to be quiet, and its origins are with the early days of radio broadcasts and sound recordings.

The equipment in the early 1900s was

not very sophisticated and the ability to control the volumes of various instruments was limited.

When orchestras were recorded in the studios, the horn sections tended to be overpowering

and completely drowned out the wind and string sections. To combat this, horn players would stuff an actual sock into the

mouth of their instrument, and if the conductor thought it was necessary, he would yell out,

put a sock in it. And then by the 1920s, this expression was being used colloquially.

To put the dampers on something means to make something less enjoyable or to reduce your

enthusiasm for something.

And a lot of people actually think the phrases put a dampener on something because of the

notion of putting water to dampen out of fire. But it's actually put the dampers on and it began

with music as well. A damper is a device used on piano strings. It's operated by a foot pedal and presses against the strings.

This reduces the sound of the piano. When the conductor instructs the orchestra to put the dampers on,

he wants to tone down the volume of the performance.

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