Pick up the board
Picking up the blackboard is a medieval phrase that used to be used as a synonym for “to finish a meal” as it is today.
The origin of the idiom lies in the eating habits of noble or wealthy people in the Middle Ages and later. At that time, the food on the table top - the table or simply blackboard - was carried into the hall by the servants as if on a huge tray and placed there on trestles or other underframes in front of the guests. When the householder intended to stop eating, he gave instructions to "lift the table." Servants then rushed over, lifted the entire table with all the utensils on it and carried it and the goats into the kitchen to dispose of the leftovers and clean the dishes. They "picked up the table" - literally - the meal was then considered finished Guests were allowed to leave their seats and do other things. Even today, “picking up the table” means “finishing a meal” as it used to mean, only that the dining table or table is cleared instead of literally cleared away - “picked up” and carried away. The verb “tafeln” - “eat at the table”, that is, dine in style, also comes from that time.
literature
- Klaus Gorzny: Ruhr castles. Castles, palaces and aristocratic residences along the Ruhr . Piccolo, Marl 2002, ISBN 3-9801776-7-X
- Lutz Röhrich: Lexicon of proverbial sayings . Directmedia, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89853-442-1 .