Many times over the years I have heard people say that they have given someone the 'third degree,' which means they have put them through tough questioning. You often hear it in relation to fathers questioning their daughter's new boyfriends or dates. Until a friend emailed me the history of the term today, I had never known how it came about that to give someone the third degree, meant to question them intensely. This phrase was one that I had always defined as meaning to question someone, but without ever thinking about it might mean that.
After reading the definition my friend sent me, it turns out that the 'third degree' was originally used by the Masons. In Masonic Lodges, there are three degrees of membership, and in order to gain the highest level of membership, the third degree, candidates would have to be subjected to activities which included an interrogation, this degree was more physically challenging that the first two degrees. It was from this that the term was then applied to any type of intense questioning, as once the questioning was complete, the people being interrogated would say that, 'they felt like they had gone through the third degree.' So from people likening intense questioning to the third degree, people have then gone on to describe any type of intense questioning as being given the third degree. This revelation of the story behind the third degree has got me wondering what other phrases has stories behind them, such as, "I could eat a horse and chase the rider."
You can read the definition of the Third Degree on Phrases.
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