Quote:
Originally Posted by DtheP47
Found this Mr D:
Actually it stems from the Urdu "Bahnn Gehecked" which refers to a large pottery cooking bowl or gourd....These gourds were not very resistant to heat and developed cracks at the base.
When the Pasthu women lifted these onto their shoulders the base frequently came away showering the carrier with hot liquid or stew.
By common usage then the term became a descriptor for an item which was faulty or unsafe.
For instance when someone would attempt to lift a full basket of cobras for the snake charmer someone might say .."Be carefull Parminder....that could be bahnn gehecked...
British soldiers in India brought the expression to these islands
*** Susie123 mentions finding some potsherds up on Morecambe Bay, they may well have come off the shipwreck of the Bengal Lancers back in the great storm of 1882 
Bahnn Gehecked sounds German to me though  |
Don't buy that for a minute - it's Irish, ask Terry Wogan.