A speaker usually means by it that there’s no chance of something happening or no hope of some outcome, that the enquirer is out of luck or more generally that some request is being denied...
The first examples of the idiom appear near the end of the First World War in letters home from draftees. The more literate of such letters were often reprinted in small-town newspapers to let readers know how their boys were doing... the expression was widespread within the US Navy...
Recruits often complained they weren’t being supplied with soap, a need that was at times met by the Red Cross in the comfort kits they supplied. Soap was in short supply in the US at the time — as it was throughout Europe — because its raw materials of gelatine and fat were being diverted to make explosives. It seems likely that no soap, at first a rueful complaint, became for recruits a saying that meant — as early references confirmed — “you’re out of luck”. The slightly broader senses naturally followed.
16 September 2016
The origin of the phrase "No soap"
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Huh! I always thought the phrase "no soap" (as a desired outcome not happening) came from the use of "soapy" meaning "smooth or slippery" and related to fast talking persuasive behavior. As in "he's just a soap salesman" or "he's just a soap salesman".
ReplyDeleteThe usage I've heard of it was that someone wanting you to do something would "soap you up". But if they didn't convince you to do something it was "no soap" on that deal....
There is also a metaphor in Mexico that is similar. It is that someone is a "soapy fish", if they are so slippery they can't be pinned down on something. You can't get them to agree on something, and if they do agree initial to do something, they will wriggle out of it some way. (This was featured in the Huffington Post on June 17, 2015.)