In the program "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern looks at the roots of a phrase from everyday life.
Friday, he takes us to the discovery of an expression which illustrates our fatigue: "to be at the end of the roll".
A roll that is not necessarily what we think it is.
Stéphane Bern suggests every day, in
Historically yours
with Matthieu Noël, to discover these expressions that we use every day, without necessarily knowing their origin.
Friday, he explains to us the roots of "being at the end of the roll" and its current variations.
"The closer the weekend gets, the more likely you are to use and hear this expression: 'I'm at my end of the line.' Its origin is quite old, since it dates back to the 14th century. 'then do not look at all like those of today. They are made of a stick of ivory or boxwood, around which one wraps sheets of paper written on one side only, and glued end to end. calls them “roles.” It is from this term that the expression which interests us will be born later.
In the theater, the dialogues are written on these famous "roles", which moreover give their name to the "role" played by an actor.
When an actor has little to say, that he has a small role, we call it a "role".
Quickly, the term integrates everyday life: when a person does not know what to say or how to react, we imagine that he is like at the end of his theater text.
It is then said that she is "at the end of her role".
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"To be at the end", "to be at the end of your life"
The expression then changed in the 19th century, a period when "being at the end of the roll" definitely became "being at the end of the roll".
Back then, bankers put coins in paper rolls.
People running out of money were therefore "at their wit's end".
Today, "being at the end of the roll" expresses extreme fatigue.
But it is not the only expression to cover this usage.
In Tunisia as in France, one can also say "to be on the rim".
In Germany, we rather say "whistle at the last hole", a very mysterious expression.
In our teenagers, because after all it is they who today invent the expressions of tomorrow, exhaustion is expressed a little differently: we are "at the end of your life". "