Spick and Span

In a recent comment (of course I forget to whom) I recently used the phrase (not technically a phrase but you know . . .), spic and span. And then I wondered, where the heck did that come from. We all know the phrase means very clean to the average person, or "spotlessly clean and neat" according to dictionary.com.

What I didn't realize until I did my bit an internet sleuthing as that it should be spelled spick and not spic. Of course it was Spic and Span in the old cleaning product. I say old because I haven't seen it on the shelves or at least not noticed it on the shelves for quite awhile.

What interested me was the history of the phrase, and I discovered that it dates to the 16th and 17th centuries when it came to mean new and fresh. That is because spick was the word for nail, which a workman would use to fashion something new. The span part probably dates back to Norse, referring to a chip of wood, as in newly carved wood. If you put them together, it seems that you would be nailing something new with wood.

Although its secondary meaning can still refer to fresh and new, over time the spotlessly clean and neat meaning has become dominant.

I wonder if it is one of those phrases that will become lost as we are succeeded by a generation with new and rapidly evolving vocabulary.

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I searched for the cleaning product and found that it can still be found at Walmart, Amazon and fine retailers everywhere. I must remember to look in my own grocery store.