Idiom of the week: A skeleton in the cupboard

Do you have a skeleton in the cupboard? Many people do...

Does it sound grim? Apparently, back in the 19th century, keeping a skeleton in the cupboard wasn't that rare among 19th-century doctors.

Nowadays, colleges and faculties of Medicine keep several corpses for educational and research purposes. It seems only natural, doesn't it? But before the "Anatomy Act" was passed in 1832, doctors weren't allowed to work on dead bodies, except those of executed criminals. In fact, and in spite of the great demand for corpses by the medical community, it was illegal to keep them.

In this scenario, as you can imagine, being able to perform an autopsy was a thrilling privilege. What did doctors do? Well, many of them have been believed to "steal" the skeletons of previously autopsied bodies. And a cupboard sounds like a logical place to hide something you aren't supposed to having got hold of.

The expression "a skeleton in the cupboard" ("a skeleton in the closet", in American English) has shifted from its literal meaning to a figurative one. Most people don't keep a bunch of bones in a furniture, that's for sure, but we do keep secrets, and some of them are dark or embarrassing... Just as Victorian doctors concealed the corpses they had stolen, we try to conceal the things which may harm our reputation.

So, let me ask you one more time: is there a skeleton in your cupboard?