Ever stopped and thought about that expression. What does it mean? Pull yourself up by your bootstraps? That's not actually possible..... We all know what people mean when they say it, "Fix your problem with hard work and personal discipline.", but is the expression just a nonsense phrase? How does Pulling on your bootstraps mean work hard?

Well I did some research, and it's fantastic.

The phrase originated in an 1800s physics text, where the author gives us a thought experiment "Why can a man not lift himself by pulling on his bootstraps?" and then the text went on to explain the concept that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, therefore, no matter how hard you pull on your bootstraps, you can never lift yourself.

From there it filtered out into common usage and became an expression for "that's impossible". For example in 1834 a man named Nimrod Murphree (back before Bugs Bunny made that name into an insult) published an article claiming he'd invented a perpetual motion machine, and a local paper published a ridicule of the man saying "Mr. Murphree may as well say he has passed himself over a barn yard fence but lifting his bootstraps".

So yeah, it was a sarcastic phrase of disbelief, maybe the modern equivalent would be "fat chance" or "No way in hell". It may also be related to the Stories of Baron Munchausen, in which a character known for telling unbelievable stories claims to have lifted himself out of a swamp by pulling up on his hair.

So THAT usage makes a LOT more sense than the way we use it now. But how did it go from an idiom meaning "that's impossible" to something that we expect everyone to be able to do, and in fact look down on and deride people who can't do it, as have a failing of personal character? How did it go from being an expression of the impossible to a standard expectation?

Well, over time, this sarcastic expression was used in some contexts where it was flattering. There was a story published about a military officer who climbed high in the ranks despite not being from any notable family, just due to his own excellent quality and hard work. This article said he had climbed the ladder "by aid of his bootstraps". Of course the article was making a cheeky play on the usual meaning of the idiom, trying to say, essentially, "Here is a guy who actually managed to achieve the impossible through his personal excellence." Other articles were published talking about optimistic Americans who acquired initial investments for different business ventures and set off with ridiculously lofty goals. Some articles called these businessmen "bootstrappers" and meant it in a pejorative way, as in these guys are trying to do the impossible and will lose their investments, sort of a naïve optimism. But of course some did succeed and their gamble paid off, and so then articles would be published talking about these men who did lift themselves by their bootstraps and achieved success. The implication being "they attempted the impossible but by jove they actually did it."

And over time, gradually, the cheeky play on the original meaning of the expression came to completely replace the original meaning. And then, also gradual over time, the expression further shifted from a rare and incredible effort, to being sarcastic advice. As in a farmer saying "Man I don't know how i'm gonna make it through this fall, my crops aren't yielding very well," and his friend kinda sarcastically offering "well, you could pull yourself up by your bootstraps" that now meaning "Have the kind of lucky break and huge effort like we read about in these news stories and apply it to your problem." That might be like someone today saying "Well, you could always win the lottery", like yeah it's not impossible, people do win it, but it's not really useful advice. It's sarcasm.

And then further still over time that snarky meaning of a incredible extraordinary effort became such common advice, that the sarcastic edge was eventually lost and it came to be a genuine expression of a common thing any decent person should be able to do when they run into hard times.

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So, the evolution:

Sarcastic expression for something that is impossible>Astonished expression for something seemingly impossible but some extraordinary person achieve it anyway> Genuine expression referring to putting in an incredible effort to achieve the unlikely under extreme circumstances>Sarcastic suggestion that extreme and stupendous efforts be made to address common life hardships>Genuine expectation that anyone be able to work really hard and fix it themselves if they get in a tight spot.