So why is a doornail dead anyway?
Long story, or I should say old story. Here are the two I know:
In the 1600s and 1700s, doors were almost literally just a few planks nailed together. To keep them from sagging, nails were driven through the door’s parts and then pounded over. Today it is called clench-nailing.
Bending the tip of the nail over by smashing it with a hammer means there’s no way it is coming out or wiggling loose.
It’s this clenching that renders the nail “dead” which was what was meant by the phrase back in Shakespeare’s time . Dead in this case refers to its motionlessness, not only because it stays put, but because you can’t pull it out.
In the other tale, the nail is dead because if the house ever burned down — and they often did — lots of things could be salvaged: metal items, earthenware, and so on. But because the nails were bent so close to the tip they weren’t worth recovering, hence they were dead.
Either way, home improvement, history and Billy Shakes collide in one little phrase. Perhaps the pen is mightier than the light-steel hammer.
If you’ve got any home improvement history to share, let us know. We’d love to hear it.
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