Going For Promotion

It’s easy to see where some old phrases come from.  ‘Make hay while the sun shines’, ‘Don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched’, to ‘throw a spanner in the works’: these are all pretty straightforward in meaning and it’s not difficult to see how they originated.

But what about ‘blow your own trumpet’? Where did that one start? It does sound a little dodgy, especially in the American version, ‘blow your own horn’….

Well I did a little research and found that it comes from Ye Olde Days of Yore, or maybe a few months beforehand. When a knight rode into town he was supposed to have a herald or two to sound a fanfare announcing his arrival, but if he was too poor or lowly to have a herald – or even if he just thought that he could do a better job of self-promotion –  he would dispense with the need for a herald and literally blow his own trumpet.

It’s a fascinating concept – a guy who feels the need to announce his greatness to the world and if, through circumstances or choice, there’s nobody else to do it then by God and King Harry, he’ll just have to do it himself.

I can’t imagine doing that. I’m English. Maybe in the days when dragons needed slaying we did that kind of thing but not now. If God had an off-day and it was left to me to save the Queen I’d probably be more likely to say ‘It was nothing, don’t make a fuss’ than to book a slot on TV selling my story to Pierce Morgan.

But maybe I should. Maybe, in my professional life at least, I should shout my triumphs however small.

So here goes…

‘My name is Shaun Finnie and I’m a writer. I have several books available at the moment and they’re all fantastic. Go and buy them now, your life will be better for it.

‘Look at me everyone, I’m fantastic!’

No, it’s just not me. My horn should remain untainted by my own lips.

Perhaps I should try a wig and a pseudonym. Or hire a herald to write fake reviews on Amazon?

© Shaun Finnie 2012