Freeze your liver off

[rosa who else]

I've heard this expression as long as I can remember, but can't find it even googling for fragments instead of the whole phrase.

Anybody know where this came from and how?

What "freeze your liver off" means is that it is so cold outside, you're going to really get the deep shivers.

I've tried searching for "freeze your livery off," thinking it might have to do with uniformed servants stuck out in the cold, but I ain't got any hits yet that make sense.

Any input, or corrections to my search techniques, are appreciated.

[Malruhn]

The only thing I can make up is that it is widely known that the liver is an internal organ... and the speaker is making a joke - that you will get so cold as to freeze your internal organs.

[AnglRdr]

I have never heard that expression! But googling "freeze your liver" brought up reference to a poem read at a memorial service for Jerry Orbach.

[Towknie]

I almost froze my liver off once at a wedding where they featured a Grey Goose fountain running through an ice sculpture.

[Pudding Crawl]

I've seen reference to 'a chill on the liver', in old books and such, said by doctors (colloquially, that is)- any pain was presumably explained away as a 'chill' in the relevent area, like a 'head-cold' etc. Perhaps they're related.
I am sure I have been told by Wise Relative not to go walking in the cold
without sturdy clothes, because 'your kidneys will get cold'.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

I'd never heard that one!

(But it is interesting to note that forensic experts, when attempting to establish the time-of-death of a corpse, measure the temperature of the liver, as it retains body heat longer than any other of the internal organs.)

Silas

[Nick Theodorakis]

I never heard the term itself, either, but I have heard of cryoablation as a method to treat liver cancer, so maybe that's close enough.

Nick

[Electrotiger]

I've heard that in Arabic antiquity, the liver was referred to as our "heart" is today, not as in the center of your circulatory system, but as the center of your willpower or where deep feelings come from.

As in, "I love you from the bottom of my liver."

From Wikipedia:

In Arabic and Persian language, the liver is used in figurative speech to refer to courage and strong feelings, or "their best," e.g. "This Mecca has thrown to you the pieces of its liver!"

[llewtrah]

I've never heard that phrase, but when I was a kid we did some yoga at school and we learnt a "warmth" position that was based on the liver being the body's heat-generating organ. So I guess if if it's so cold your liver isn't producing warmth then it's very cold indeed.

I've always heard phrases about getting a chill on the kidneys (because when you get cold you may need to wee more often).

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by llewtrah

I've never heard that phrase, but when I was a kid we did some yoga at school and we learnt a "warmth" position that was based on the liver being the body's heat-generating organ. So I guess if if it's so cold your liver isn't producing warmth then it's very cold indeed.

I've always heard phrases about getting a chill on the kidneys (because when you get cold you may need to wee more often).

I'd never heard the latter; is it true? I mean, all other things being equal, do people need to go more often in cold weather than warm? (Maybe because, in cold weather, we don't sweat as much, so liquid is retained?)

Is the former true? Does the liver generate body warmth? How about the other innards, lungs, intestines, stomach, heart, etc? ("Brain, brain, what is brain?") I'd always thought that it was the muscles that built up body heat -- I was taught that this is why we shiver -- but it never occurred to me to wonder what role the other parts play.

(None of this is rebuttal; I'm entirely curious and acknowledge my ignorance.)

As Theodore Sturgeon liked to say, "Ask the next question."

Silas

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

... Does the liver generate body warmth? How about the other innards, lungs, intestines, stomach, heart, etc? ("Brain, brain, what is brain?") I'd always thought that it was the muscles that built up body heat -- I was taught that this is why we shiver -- but it never occurred to me to wonder what role the other parts play.
...

Skeletal muscles, liver, splanchnic organs [i.e., "guts"], and brain are the biggest producers of heat in an organism.

cite

Since those are the biggest organs in the body, I guess that's not a complete surprise.

Skeletal muscle also has the ability to increase heat production, by shivering.

Nick

[Valitudinarius Rex]

We actually have an expression in our family: "That scared the liver out of me", which is intended to be ironic while expressing the unexpected trauma of an unpleasant surprise.

The French express a hang-over (or any other unexplained malady) as a "crise de foie", or a "liver attack", a kind of universal excuse for a sick-day.