The role of phraseological units in the Russian language can hardly be overestimated. Thanks to their use, the speaker’s speech becomes especially colorful, lively, imaginative. The roots of a great many stable expressions should be sought in the folk language. It is he who is the storehouse of truly precious treasures of our modern dictionary.
Meaning of the expression “hedgehogs”
When one person wants to characterize the methods or techniques of raising another, emphasizing their particular severity, perhaps even cruelty, he most often declares that he keeps his family in a black body. It is appropriate in the same sense to use the phraseology “hedgehogs”.
The phrase, say, “fox fur coat”, “beaver hat” is quite familiar, but what does a garment from a prickly mammal look like and does it really exist? We learn this by examining the etymology of phraseology.
The history of the origin of the expression
It turns out that such mittens were not made from the skin of a beast, but to capture him. As you know, hedgehogs along with cats are good mousetraps. And peasants in former times very often used them precisely for this purpose, launching undergrounds into their cellars.
And how is it more convenient to catch the thorny creature so that you yourself won’t get hurt and not injure him? Here hedgehogs came to the rescue - specially made for catching mouse hunters. They sewed them without a lining, made of very rough leather, and they were called shanks.
