1mo ago

Who's Tom and who was he peeping?

Where did that saying come from?

19 comments

That's Tom from MySpace. Everyone got added as his friend so he could peep on anyone he wanted

I found out when looking into the term "tomboy" that a "tom" was a term for a boisterous and unruly boy. The word "tom" does come from tomcat as others have said because unneutered tomcats are often loud and unruly. I suspect Peeping Tom has a similar "tom" origin: an unruly boy that peeps on girls.

Peeping Tom, being Frank, Ruthless, smart Alec. I like to think that each saying started out with a particularly notable person.
- I guess like the Goths, the Franks were a barbarian tribe, who were presumably reasonably direct and... frank, compared to sophisticated imperial types.
  
  You jest, but you're not far off.
  In Frankish Gaul, only Franks had full freedom, and so "franc" from Old French and "francus" from medieval Latin meant "free", which eventually took on a few more specific meanings, one of which was "speaking freely" (as in "open, honest"). Another meaning is found in the phrase "franking privileges," which refers to politicians being able to send items in the mail without being charged for them - the items are "free" to be delivered.