Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 276. The idiom today is to stake a
claim. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone stakes a claim, he or she
states that they have a right to claim something as one's own or as their own.
This can be done officially, by legally registering a claim on something . Like
going to court and doing ... especially if it was land or property or something
like that. You probably would do it that way or figuratively as claiming dibs on
it. Well it was among a number of people and he said well that's mine I want that
or I said it first so maybe you think you have a right to have it then. You can
claim dibs on it. So you could try to stake a claim on it that way too. All right.
Let's continue. The origin of the phrase goes back to the 1800s. The US had a
number of occasions that caused land rushes. People trying to rush to ... the
government was willing to give land away for free. You know, if people would only
you know, produce something on it or help grow something on it. So that's, that's
why it became a land rush. When things are given away for free. That's what will
probably happen. When the government encourages people to claim unsettled land.
Yeah. I think this also happened during the gold rush in the middle of the 1800s
too. A lot of area around California. Some people tried to claim. This was done
often by literally driving a stake. All right. What do we mean by a snake ? A snake is a
pointed stick or pole You know, As you're pointing and you're just going to
just hammer it into the ground. That's what we mean by a stake.
Yeah. We use it for other things too. I mean you know, in all the Dracula movies
that's always the way to kill a vampire. You know, you can put a stake through its
heart. That stick with the pointy end or or the pole you know, in the Middle
Ages sometimes they would burn people at the stake. S it has to have at least one
really sharp pointy end. That's kind of you know, put into the ground to try to
stand firmly. All right. So that's what they did.
Driving a stake into the land as an official claim. So that's how they did it.
They really did it where they kind of like had a race that day and whoever
could get to that piece of land first. They could stake a claim they could put
that piece of us ... the sign with their name on it in the land and they they got
it. It's kind of funny to think it was done that way. So nowadays forget it. All
the good land is really gone. This is almost unheard of today. I remember a few
years back I think Putin in Russia was willing to give some land away in
Siberia but that's what we're down to today.
The frozen land in Siberia. He was willing to give some away if somebody
would produce something on it. I don't know how many takers he got but you know
all the good land is already taken on most of the earth. Unfortunately. All
right. Anyway. Let's continue Anyway this can be witnessed you know,
like these land rushes ... this can be witnessed in the movie " Far and Away" it
was in the 1990s. It's very famous it was you know, it had Tom, Tom , Tom Cruise . Okay,
and Nicole Kidman. I think that's where they actually met in that movie. Where
they fell in love and they got married. And they were married for I don't know
about 10 years or so until they finally broke up. unfortunately. But that's where
they actually met. Which took place during the 1893 Oklahoma land rush. So
that was based on kind of a true story. That there was the Oklahoma land rush at
that time. So that was around 1893 when that , that, was the time period that movie
was taking place. Okay. Let's continue. All right. So we have three examples here.
According to an international agreement, no country can stake a claim on the moon
or are any part of the moon. So that, that means like officially they're not
allowed to you know go to the moon even though supposedly in 1969 when the US
they go to the moon that we did put a flag in it but it wasn't really claiming
the moon. But they're saying you can't do that. Not legally. So that's
an official one. All right. The second one, a little bit more of a joke here.
Sally staked a claim to the most handsome man at the party. She told the
other girls hands off. He's mine. You know, something like that. I don't know if they
would ever listen to Sally. Anyway, but you know we could say that somebody
tried to do this. They tried to stake a claim on somebody maybe or something . All
right and number three here. Jane's sister staked a claim to her father's
antique furniture after he died. Yeah. I'm not sure this is probably among family
members you know, if nothing was actually put in a will. Then you know, it's among
the family members. Some of them may try to stake a claim on something. That's you
know left behind. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope you enjoyed
it. I it hope was informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.