Every Tub On Its Own Bottom

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Shannon calling from Cardiff, California, just north of San Diego.

Hey, Shannon. Welcome to the show.

Hi, Shannon. What’s up?

Well, I have a question for you guys.

Okay.

I work at a large public university near here, and I was at a recent staff meeting, and our boss said that every campus unit should be a tub on its own bottom.

And I understood the context, but I was curious about the origin of that phrase.

What did you take it to mean?

Well, I assumed it meant being self-sufficient and that we were expected to pay our own way.

Right.

But I don’t know where it came from.

And Shannon, what are you picturing?

Well, I thought it had something to do with a boat because I thought of a tub and a boat.

But my colleague thought it had maybe was the claws on a bathtub.

So I thought, I know where to go with this question.

Interesting.

So each tub should stand on its own bottom.

Yes.

So what kind of person was this?

Was it a history professor?

Somebody who had a little bit of background in literature?

Or religion?

Anybody special?

Well, she’s a sociologist professor, but also one of the vice chancellors at the university.

Okay.

Well, there’s at least 400 years of history behind this term, it turns out.

Yeah.

And what the tub refers to is not a boat and not a bathtub, but the kind of cask or barrel that you might put wine or vinegar and or liquid in.

And so that used to be called a tub.

And I don’t understand why each tub has to stand on its own bottom, perhaps when they’re on top of one another in the back of a wagon, they would fall over or the weight would be too much.

I don’t really know.

But that has been the expression for a long time.

But a more general form of this, that each person should stand on their own bottom.

Each one should stand on their own bottom.

Because bottom has historically meant foundation or base or the underpinnings of something.

Huh. Okay.

So this was a reference to the university and different units in the university standing independently of each other?

Yes, or bringing in enough revenue to support their function.

Right.

So you’ve got to raise all your own grant money for your department and your programs, and you’re not going to siphon off a little bit from another department somewhere else.

That’s correct. We prefer we not do that.

Yeah, and it’s interesting that you’re using it in an academic setting because it was popularized in the early 1800s by the president of Harvard.

Oh, really?

Yeah, who used that expression.

And indeed, these days at Harvard, they have the acronym ETOB, which is each tub on its own bottom.

Well, that explains a lot.

Yeah, yeah.

So I think it got picked up by academics all over the country.

One interesting aspect to this you might appreciate, Shannon, is that in the 1600s, this was used in religious texts.

And you can find examples on Google Books.

But the meaning there was just a little different.

And what they meant was each tub on its own bottom meant that when you have a religious perspective and beliefs, then you should adhere to them and not try to disavow parts of your religion or disavow what your church is telling you to do.

If you are a Catholic, you are a Catholic.

If you are something else, you are something else.

And in this way, you depend upon the basis and the foundation of those who have come before you in your religion.

So it’s just a slight variation on the meaning there.

But in general, each one should stand on their own bottom.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, sure.

Who knew it went all the way back to Pilgrim’s Progress?

I know, and wine barrels.

Yeah.

All right, well, thank you both. I appreciate it.

Sure. Thanks, Shannon. Bye-bye.

Have a good day.

Bye, Shannon.

Bye-bye.

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