Re: Toe rag
I am surprised at that explanation Muddy, because I have always thought it something to do the street shoe shine men.
But here is yet another explanation of the term too, so take your pick.
"Toe rag is a prime example. It comes from a time when men wore stockings instead of socks, and is used as an insult, to describe someone who is the lowest of the low.
The toe rag, from which the term comes, was an item of clothing worn by men who were either too poor to afford stockings, or were criminals. They would wrap their feet up in scraps of cloth, which, unwashed, would end up in a very poor state indeed. It’s a relatively common situation among the homeless even today.
The first recorded use is in Experiences of a Convict, an 1864 book by J F Mortlock in which he says: “Stockings being unknown, some luxurious men wrapped round their feet a piece of old shirting, called, in language more expressive than elegant, a ‘toe-rag’”
You choose.
(And then there is always the charming ' snot rag ' too, but I don't think we need to go there. )