Phrases & SayingsCrime, prison and the underworld
doing it on your head
Serving a sentence without being defeated by prison conditions.
In a sentence
He boasted that he was doing it on his head.
Where it came from
Figurative prison expression presenting endurance as mastery over the sentence. The glossary records doing it on your head as serving time without being defeated by prison conditions.
- First recorded
- 1972
- Initial era
- 1950–1999
- Where used
- Parramatta Jail, NSW
- Use today
- Historical Parramatta Jail usage; later/current currency not established