There are so many phrases in the English
that are kind of baffling. We can say things such as "getting cold feet" or calling someone the "apple of my eye" in our daily conversations - but if we are asked to explain exactly why, it can get a little confusing. One phrase in particular is widely used across the world without thinking.
We've all heard it at some point. Despite what the
gross implications, we have all said or been told: “Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” But where exactly does it come from?
Some have explained that it's a reference to making the bed tightly to keep the bedbugs out, while a similar theory is that it was based on keeping your sleepwear tight to stop them from getting onto your arms and legs. While it's believable as an old wives' tale, it's pretty unlikely as bedbugs tend to spread from the mattress through other bedding materials.
One popular theory suggests that it relates to the way beds were made in the 16th and 17th century. Before spring mattresses were introduced in the 19th century, they were filled with straw and feathers, sitting on a latticework of ropes. These underlying ropes would have to be tightened regularly, which may be the origin of the phrase "sleep tight".
Tightening these ropes would be good for sleep but also kept the mattress far from the ground and away from any
on the floorboards.
However, a
lot of these theories have been refuted by historians on the grounds that they lack definitive proof or don't line up timeline-wise with the phrase itself. The Oxford English Dictionary shows us that "sleep tight" has been most commonly used to mean "sleep soundly", as the adverb "tightly" once meant "soundly, properly, well, effectively".
Etymologist Barry Popik, a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary, wrote about this rhyme
on his blog
in 2010:
“The rhyme ‘Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite’ became used in the United States by the 1880s and 1890s. In some versions, ‘mosquitoes’ did the biting. An earlier version (from the 1860s and 1870s) was ‘Good night, sleep tight, wake up bright in the morning light, to do what’s right, with all your might.’”
Looking back at its appearances in literature during the 19th century, you can see examples such as “May you sleep tight, Where the bugs don’t bite!” or “Now, good-night, dollies, sleep tight, and don’t let nothing bite". It became much more widely used in the 20th century, after appearing in books by authors such as F Scott Fitzgerald.
“It seems pretty clear from Popik’s list of Google cites that the buggy versions were earthy variations on a sweet Victorian sentiment," Boston Globe writer Jan Freeman said, "coined for no better (or worse) reason than shock value and a snappy rhyme.”
Well, there you have it - we had shock artists even back then, although their jokes were far more tame.
