Hang Out One’s Shingle, to 💼
Definition: To open an office, especially a professional practice. This term hails from nineteenth-century America, reflecting a time when lawyers, doctors, and various business folk used shingles—small, flat wooden planks—as signboards for their enterprises. Picture seeing a barrage of eager professionals, shingles in hand, ready to cure what’s ailing or litigate what’s failing.
Example in Literature: Van Wyck Brooks chronicles this in The World of Washington Irving (1944), stating: “Catlin hung out his shingle as a portrait-painter.”
Synonyms & Similar Expressions 🪧
- Launch one’s enterprise: A more modern take, invoking images of Silicon Valley startups.
- Open shop: Simplified, welcoming, and potentially connected with retail.
- Hang one’s hat: Though often about settling in, it also can apply to professional endeavors.
Proverbs & Quotables ✨
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step—or a single shingle.” — Anonymous Witty Soul
Related Books, Movies & Songs 🎬📚🎵
- Books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek—because your “why” is the foundation for your “shingle.”
- Movies: The Pursuit of Happyness—an inspiring tale of perseverance and setting up shop no matter the challenges.
- Songs: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor—because every small business owner needs a motivational anthem.
Intriguing Facts 🔍
- Quaint beginnings: In the 1800s, it wasn’t uncommon to find doctors practicing from their living rooms, shingles or no shingles.
- Mobile shingles: Today’s equivalent might just be setting up a digital footprint—your website or LinkedIn profile as the new ‘shingle’.
Until next time, dear reader, let the shingles of your dreams clatter melodiously in the winds of opportunity. May your ventures be vibrant and your journeys jubilant. — P. T. Pundit
