"Origins of words" by Susie Dent, Countdown 14/12/17 (to have someone over the barrel, laughing stock, going commando)

Three auestions from three viewers, and I always love getting questions, so thank you to everyone who's sending them in. The first is from Alex Smith, who asked, where the phrase "to have someone over the barrel" comes from. It's American, and first appeared around sort of 1950s, 1960s. And it refers, we think, to the actual situation of somebody being leant over the barrel. Two situations, one is to empty the lungs of someone who'd been close to drowing. And we have lots of records saying that this actually took place, this method of clearing the lungs. Or it was a form of punishment, often aboard a ship. Similar to flogging, in other words. Either way, that position of helplessness transferred over into this idiom, and thtat's why we still talk of that today.  John Winter asks - similar theme of helplessness - why do we call somebody a laughing stock? That goes back to the use of stock, something solid that you can fix something to. So a stump, or it's related to stick, in fact. And the idea that you are the butt of a joke, really, you're at the end of a joke. And speaking of butts - this is probably the worst link I've ever made - Victoria Morsman asked about going commando and where that phrase comes from. The simple answer is not completely sure, but we do know that many commandos and people in the special forces do go without underpants. Do you know this phrase, to go commando? Two senses - it can mean to toughen up, if you go commando, and that was its first sense, actually, but it nowdays means not to wear any underwear. Thst's to go commando. And certanly, within the special forces, especially if, people in Vietnam, for example, if they were spending long periods in wet, jungle conditions, wearing underpants could be deeply uncomfortable. I won't go into it, but fungal infection and things, apparently, come to mind. And that may have been when it started to creep into English. But it really was propelled in the 1970s, when it became a part of college slang, and then a famous episode of Friends has Joey and Rachel going commando, and that's when it became really popular. Thanks for sending them in.