(Not to be confused with “throwing down the gauntlet” to issue a dueling challenge, which has an entirely different etymology despite being the same word. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gauntlet )
Thank you kind Sir. But acshially…
“The word in English was originally spelled gantelope or gantlope,[7] but soon its pronunciation was influenced by the unrelated word gauntlet, meaning an armored glove, derived from the French: gantelet.[1] The spelling changed with the pronunciation.”
I.e. not “the same” word, per se.
The fact that they are two completely different words, accidentally spelled the same, is the solution to this riddle. And I bet my Austrian pair of buttocks that a majority of native English speakers is unaware of that fact, believing instead that the type of gauntlet in this meme actually has something to do with armored gloves.
“Running the gauntlet” was a military corporal punishment that involved running between two rows of you comrades while they hit you with sticks. Basically it now just refers to overcoming a public trial, such as an obstacle course like this.
I’ll never understand why these are called “gauntlet”
Sadly, there’s no way to discover such lost. knowledge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_the_gauntlet
(Not to be confused with “throwing down the gauntlet” to issue a dueling challenge, which has an entirely different etymology despite being the same word. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gauntlet )
To be fair, seems like a confusing idiom for someone not a native English speaker.
Most idioms are like that, it’s what makes them idioms.
Thank you kind Sir. But acshially… “The word in English was originally spelled gantelope or gantlope,[7] but soon its pronunciation was influenced by the unrelated word gauntlet, meaning an armored glove, derived from the French: gantelet.[1] The spelling changed with the pronunciation.” I.e. not “the same” word, per se. The fact that they are two completely different words, accidentally spelled the same, is the solution to this riddle. And I bet my Austrian pair of buttocks that a majority of native English speakers is unaware of that fact, believing instead that the type of gauntlet in this meme actually has something to do with armored gloves.
“Running the gauntlet” was a military corporal punishment that involved running between two rows of you comrades while they hit you with sticks. Basically it now just refers to overcoming a public trial, such as an obstacle course like this.