Crimson Red Sports

In the late 1800s, "like _____ through a tin horn" started to appear in newspapers, often as "beans through a tin horn" or "butter through a tin horn," and always used to describe an action that happened quickly and effortlessly.

  Back then, a tin horn by definition was nothing more than a cheaply made instrument. Whereas trumpets and other horns have valves and tubing to produce high-quality musical sound, tin horns in the 19th century were essentially straight, narrow noisemakers.

Tin horns were used for signal-calling purposes during the Civil War. Toy versions of them were used as instruments of celebration following presidential elections. Meriwether Lewis even bought a handful of them for his expedition with William Clark in 1803.

Considering the expression started popping up in periodicals toward the turn of the century, it's not a stretch to infer that the phrase was rooted in there simply not being much to these horns - just blow in the mouthpiece and a sound will come out (or put something else in there and it'll come out pretty easily too).

Over time, the substances passing through the horn varied from water to beans to mud, but it was General George Patton who became most closely associated with the more, uh, colorful version of the phrase Saban used this week, even incorporating it in his famous speech to the Third Army.

"Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like s*** through a tin horn!"