Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 38. The word origin today is

  • bootlegging or you know to bootleg something. Let's take a look at the note.

  • Nowadays, you know, in our modern time, nowadays bootlegging is the act of

  • making or selling things illegally, especially music, movies and alcohol. So

  • how would it be with the music ? Maybe if somebody went into an actual concert and

  • actually taped the concert. Or today maybe even filmed the concert illegally,

  • without permission and then was able to make copies of it and resell it. That

  • would be called.. that would be referred to as bootlegs or bootleg copies they were

  • done illegally. The same thing with the movies you know, you've probably seen

  • this before or heard of this. Somebody snuck into a movie theater when the

  • movie first came out and they were hiding there and filming the movie while

  • they're watching the movie and then they, they use that copy.

  • I don't know, nowadays when we get through the Internet or before maybe

  • they made fake copies of it and resold it. So that would also be under

  • bootlegging and of course alcohol. We know that alcohol was also connected to

  • bootlegging, especially in the old days we're going to.. we're going to get to that.

  • During prohibition you know, people made alcohol illegally. All right. So let's

  • continue here. So the origin of this term goes back to cowboy days you know,

  • originally. That's the idea when Cowboys used to hide many things in their high

  • boots. Yeah you've often seen this in cowboy movies, where they hide something

  • in their high boots. They pull a knife or small gun or sometimes they have what we

  • call here a flask of whiskey. So such as weapons or flask of whiskey. You know, that

  • like metal tin, metal can they kind of open it and they drink it down. So they might

  • have had some whiskey with him. I don't know just in case I guess they got

  • thirsty or they needed whiskey. Or remember in those days whiskey or

  • alcohol was also used kind of as a disinfectant too. So if you got a cut or

  • something. sometimes you see that somebody in these

  • old cowboy movies they get a bullet they're going to burn it

  • or something they put some ... they put some of the alcohol on it too. So it's better than

  • nothing in those days. So especially whisky ... All right. Let's continue. The term

  • itself became popular during the days of prohibition. Yeah. I remember I know it's

  • so hard to believe now that was it no was about, about a 10 or 11 year period

  • there around the night early 1920s. Or around that time where alcohol was

  • actually illegal in the US. So there was a lot of black market people selling

  • alcohol on the black market . I think eventually they considered it was just

  • too much trouble and created too much crime.

  • it was easier to just make alcohol legal again because you know the amount of

  • alcoholics is such a small percentage that that if that's a smaller problem

  • than trying to keep alcohol illegal. All right. And you know , you know, the way it

  • goes. Once once you make something illegal people want it more. All

  • right. So let's continue. During this period one of the main ways to smuggle

  • alcohol was to hide a flask of whiskey in your boots. So this is where the idea

  • of bootlegging came from . I guess you would hid the flask of whiskey or the flask of

  • alcohol in your boot. So that was a way to transport it. So this is where the

  • term comes from. This is why we say bootlegging you know, people will think

  • what does that have to do with illegal things ? Well, now you know. That's where it

  • came from. In your boot, especially a high, high boot or high boots. Yes. Okay. Anyway,

  • I hope you got it. I hope it was informative. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for your

  • time. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 38. The word origin today is

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it