We take a look at how the saying ‘frog in your throat’ originated
There’s no shortage of colourful theories for the origin of this strange expression, which is used to describe a temporary loss of vocal ability. here are some theories behind the saying ‘frog in my throat’.
Why do we say ‘frog in my throat’?
The saying possibly derives from an old superstition that if you accidentally swallow a tadpole (which would not have been unheard of when we routinely drank from ponds and streams), it was able to develop into a frog inside you.
Another enduring story is that the phrase stems from the mediaeval medical practice of quite literally putting a frog in one’s mouth to treat a throat infection.
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But according to researcher Gary Martin, author of the Phrase Finder website, the expression did not enter the language until much later – in the 1840s in the USA. Its appearance in Britain in the 1890s followed the launch here of an American brand of ‘Frog in Your Throat’ lozenges.
Martin suggests that the true origin of the phrase is far more straightforward – that it is a simple reference to the rather frog-like sounds we tend to make in moments of vocal discomfort. It’s not called
a croaky voice for nothing.