In true off-topic HN style... I used hamstrung at work recently and I reflected that it is somewhat old fashioned English word. I asked a friend afterwards and

In true off-topic HN style... I used hamstrung at work recently and I reflected that it is somewhat old fashioned English word. I asked a friend afterwards and they were unfamiliar with the term. In doing investigation around the word, I discovered its origins are in the brutal history of the transatlantic slave trade, where captured runaway slaves would have their hamstrings severed to prevent them from ever running again.