The use of the expression "get the sack," when we mean "to be discharged," originated through the impression made upon people in this country when stories were brought to them of the way the Sultan of Turkey disposed of members of his harem of whom he had tired. When he wanted to get rid of one of his harem he was said to have had her put into a sack and thrown into the Bosporus. People who heard of this report repeated it to others and they became so used to telling the tale that they slipped quite naturally into the habit of saying "to get the sack" when they meant that they expected to be put out of a position suddenly.

In very much the same way the phrase "Hobson's choice" is supposed to have resulted from the story told here of a livery-stable keeper at Cambridge, England, called Hobson, who obliged each customer to take the horse nearest the stable door, when a wish to hire one was expressed, even though he might permit customers to make the rounds of all the stalls, examining and perhaps selecting other horses. Since the interest inspired by that report, "Hobson's choice" has come to mean a choice without any alternative, or the chance to take the thing which is offered or nothing.