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up to scratch
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where does the saying up to scratch come from? eg. not up to scratch
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It dates back to the days of prize fighting, which was illegal, so usually took place in the street, or in a field.
Each participant would have to stand with his feet behind a line scatched in the ground, and start the fight from there. Therefore, the referee would invite the fighters to "Come up to scratch..." and anyone who was afraid obviously failed to come up to scratch.
Hi pinksmartie, Just an add on to andy-hughes reply. In prize fighting or bare knuckle boxing, a 'round' ended when one of the participants was knocked to the floor not the two or three minutes we are familiar with. That is why these fights sometimes lasted for 20 or 30 rounds. After a knock down (and the end of the round) the fighters came back to the scratch and the fight ended when one or the other could no longer drag themselves back to the scratch line. So, as a-h said, the term 'not up to scratch' means someone or something that doesn't measure up or not quite good enough. I've sometimes heard the term 'not up to the mark' which would be much the same thing.
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