Ever wondered where the phrase “start from scratch” came from?

Scratch has been known in the 18th century as a sporting term for a line scratched on the ground that acted as a boundary line or starting point. The term also became known in boxing (or rather, its predecessor: bare-knuckle fighting) in reference to the line drawn across the ring to which the boxers are brought to begin their bout. (Interestingly, this also gave rise to the phrase “up to scratch,” which means reaching a certain standard.

A century later, “scratch” also came to mean the starting line for a race. Competitors who began from this line had the least favourable handicap and so were given no advantage. To start from scratch meant you had been allowed no odds in your favour.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 8:05 am and is filed under Trivia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.