Judy in Miami, Florida, wonders how the expression squeaky clean came to mean spotless, whether literally or metaphorically. At least as early as the 1930s, the squeaky clean referred to hair that was so free of oil and dirt it makes a squeaking sound between your fingers. Later, TV commercials for Ajax dishwashing liquid played upon that idea, touting the so-called Ajax squeak that results from using that soap to wash dishes. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Squeaky Clean Origin”
Hello, welcome to A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Judy Rosenbliss, and I’m calling you from Miami.
Judy, welcome to the show.
Hi, Judy.
Hi.
What can we do for you?
Well, a strange thing happened to me recently. I was discussing politics with a young man, and I used the expression about a politician that she was squeaky clean. And he said, what’s that supposed to mean? And so I explained what I thought it meant, then asked myself, well, is this something that has gone out of the lingo that I’ve been using all my life?
The very next week, I saw the expression in a newspaper article. So I said, no, that’s not the answer. And the next thing I knew, I was shampooing my hair and doing my usual test of does it squeak when I was rinsing it and realized that I had learned the expression from my mother telling me, you must keep rinsing until it is squeaky clean.
How about that? And I don’t know whether that’s related to the real origin of it or not.
It sure is. Absolutely is. It sure is. That’s the earliest example of that usage, squeaky clean, meaning something that’s really, really, really clean. It may be older than this, but we can find uses in print from the 1930s, and they all talk about hair.
Well, in the 1920s is when my mother was saved.
Oh, there we go. How about that? So they’re all for shampoos or talking about styling your hair and different ways of keeping clean, and they all talk about hair being squeaky clean.
Right. And do you remember those dishwashing liquid commercials from the 1970s?
Probably not. There were a bunch of Ajax dishwashing liquid commercials, and you can find them online, where they say things like, if it won’t squeak, squawk. And they have these women washing dishes and then holding them up and showing you how they squeak because these dishes are so squeaky clean.
Yep. That’s cool. Thank you so much for your call, Judy. We really appreciate it.
Okay. Thank you. Take care.
Okay. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
And so we find by the 1970s the figurative use of a person being squeaky clean, meaning they have no hidden crimes, right?
Right. It’s kind of just after Watergate.
Right. It’s a suspicious coincidence. I’m wondering who that squeaky clean politician was. Give us a call if you’ve got a question about something you heard in the 1920s or later, 877-929-9673.
