You’re such a Ham! WOW, look at that ham- it’s a beauty, must be seven pounds of heart clogging delight. No, no, no—not going there yet…
It may not be such a common saying as it once was, but you remember hearing how “little Johnny was a ham.” May be you were called a ham sometime in your life. It is definitely an expression for history, not too common these days. Have you ever wondered where it came from? Do you think some jokester back in the 1800’s was laughing at the dinner table while eating a pork butt…and his wife said…”You’re such a ham!?”
Well I have an idea of where it originally came from, but I also searched the web; according to a blog posted on Answers.com, a “ham” is an over actor, someone who really lives it up on the stage. I think we can all agree with that definition, at least what we have been taught. I was still quite surprised to find that I couldn’t find a good record of where this saying came from. I read a story about a guy whose last name was pork; he would hang out in a pub in London in the 1800’s, and he would really live it up after having a few of the corn flavored drink ;)’ … I am sure we all know someone who has been in that state of mind before… This all makes sense, except for the word “ham”. I guess “Ham-let” could have been created in this way on the stage. Why not, “beef”, “turkey”, “lamb”… well I guess I have also heard these words used as labels. Ok, my point isn’t going too far here.
I want to present what I think the origin of “You’re such a ham…” came from. Hey, let me hear back from you on this, what’s your opinion?
Have you all read the story of Noah?
I know it isn’t top on the list of what to read in the bible, it’s the Old Testament and we want to know what happened later in the bible, I know. Just a couple moments of your time, indulge me or yourself; find a bible and maybe dust that thing off, crack it open and find the book Genesis. Look at Genesis chapter 6, verses 9-10. Noah had 3 sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. If you know the story of the great flood, to sum it up, God started over with His creation. He wiped the earth clean and started over with just Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives; it was a new beginning for man. Well… it took just over a year after the rains first fell when Noah, his family, and the animals were finally able to leave the arc for dry land. It’s interesting to note that starting in chapter 9 God tells Noah and his family that from that time on, not only will you just eat the plants but also “everything that lives and moves will be food for you.” Now, the bomb, skip on down in chapter 9 verses 20-23. What did Ham do? I wont unfold the whole event here, so read it in your bible. Ham is making fun of his father, Noah, after seeing his father lying naked in his tent; why is he naked? – well you know what I’m gonna say – read it in your bible.
What can we say about the personality of youngest sons, many are the laugh of the party or comic by nature. They can often strive for attention, especially from older siblings. At this point, Ham is outside his father’s tent telling his brothers what he just saw and I would bet that it involved some laughing on Ham’s part; he may have used some example poses or expressions to help explain his story. As you read on, you see that Ham’s brothers didn’t think it was funny or wise of Ham to have done what he did; Noah didn’t think it was funny either. At that time Noah prophesied that Ham’s son would be “the lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers”.
Does it seem possible that Noah’s Ham was the first recorded example of what it meant to be over the top? If you go to that next level, to be the “Ham of the party”, or the “Ham for attention”, I think it’s at least safe to say that it wouldn’t be wise to make your father the ham butt of the joke.
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