Way With Words: Drop of a Hat

Mike is that friend you have to constantly tell to ‘keep his shirt on,’ or else he’s going to fight everybody.

It takes little prompting to anger the man and he’s ready to fight ‘at the drop of a hat.’

Why is it a hat that drops?

Turns out that a hat was a major signaling device in the 19th century. With hats used to wave, toss in the air for victory, throw into the ring to accept a contest or challenge, or drop in order to signal the beginning of something.

Whether it was a fight or a race, a hat dropping was often used to start the contest.

Worldwidewords.org has an excerpt from one of the first instances of the term in writing, “’I found many Old Soldiers, who called themselves Democrats, and were ready to fight, at the drop of a hat, with any man who had aught to say against Gen. Scott’ from the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel 19 Jul. 1852.”

At any rate, the ‘drop of a hat’ still works in the public eye as a colloquialism for immediate action with little or no stimulus.