Modul 5: Idiom 33: Sit on one’s hands

Sit on one’s hands

Hi. Let’s take a look at the idiom, “sit on one’s hands”. When somebody sits on their hands, it means that they take no action; they are not active but passive.

But what is the origin of this idiom?

The origin of the idiom dates back to the first half of the 19th century when theatres were unheated. this expression is based on how the *audience members decided to sit on their own hands in order to keep them warm. This resulted in the audience only clapping those performers (actors) who were good or excellent; other performers who were not as good did not get a round of applause. This is because it took the audience too much effort to bring their hands out to clap, so they did not bother.

Let’s take a look at our illustration.

The audience members of the old open-air theatre are watching the play, but they are sitting on their hands because it is very cold. You can even see the cold breath, the haze/fog from their breath. Are the audience actively doing anything to engage with the play – to react to it? No, they are passive, only watching the play while literally sitting on their hands; they are waiting for something worthy of applause to happen. They are not clapping at the performance, they are “sitting on their hands”.

Here are some examples before we go to the concept questions…

The CEOs sat on their hands while illegal activities were going on in the company.

Sam sat on his hands while everyone else *cheered for the new prime minister. 

Jane sat on her hands while everyone else in the room helped *clear up the mess.

“Stop sitting on your hands and complaining. Do something!”

At the end of Fred’s performance, most people just sat on their hands.

Great.

Let’s look at some situations and check your understanding:

The sitting president hasn’t created anything new or passed a single law since he was elected president. He often blames the previous president for his lack of progress. Does he sit on his hands while in office? Yes. The president doesn’t seem to do anything significant.

Fred and Daisy have a single child who is 8 years old. The child often *misbehaves (=behaves badly), so the parents have asked a counsellor for advice on how to *discipline the child.  Should the parents sit on their hands now that they’ve got some good advice from the expert? No. If they do not act now, the child might continue to behave badly.

There is a fight breaking out between the spectators (those who watch the game) and the *basketball players at a match because a spectator has *insulted a player. As the player *points towards my friend, Joe, who, by the way, did not do anything, and moves towards him, Joe just sits there. The basketball player then attacked him. Was it a good idea for Joe to sit on his hands? No. He should have tried to explain that he was innocent or just run away.

Mark is a police officer. He notices that an old woman is getting *robbed by a criminal. Should Mark sit on his hands? No. He should take action by stopping the robbery, *arresting the robber and making sure that the old woman is OK.

It is Friday night. You know you have *guests coming to your house on Sunday but also that your house is a *mess. If you want your guests to see a clean house, should you sit on your hands during the entire Saturday? Unless you want to hire a *professional cleaner, no. You should clean your entire house so that by the time it’s Sunday morning, everything will be clean and ready for the guests.