[Northkeep] Did you know where these expressions came from?

[Marc Carlson]

Actually, the correct quote is: "No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.", from _The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence._  A fun movie by a great film director for whom historical accuracy was merely a quaint afterthought.  It was BS then, it's BS now.

We have little enough "fact" to work with in remembering the past.  And making shit up to fill in the gaps, and spreading that as "fact" is a trivializing disrespect to the people who lived through that past.  To do so simply to have fun and mock the pathetic people of the past and show how stupid they were is just wrong.  More so, since people will see these cute little quotes and believe them, and pass them on in good faith.  Making it harder for people, such as myself, who actually believe that historical accuracy is an appropriate and laudable goal to try and reach.

"Loose Cannon" -- accurate.

Turnpike - earliest known use is c1420 describing the seige of Rouen, throught to refer to a Cheval de Frise, those long pointy things imbedded in the ground to stop a cavalry charge.

Piss-poor - earliest known use is World War II

Dirt Poor - an American expression coming out of the Depression.

Strike while the iron is hot - an Americanism, but does refer to smithing.

To[o] many irons in the fire - an Americanism, but does refer to smithing. 

Bring home the bacon -- debated.  It may derive from a tradition in Dunmow Flitch rewarding a young couple, it may be from a county fair greased pig competition, 

Chew the fat -- A Naval Americanism from about the time of the Civil War.

Loose lips sink ships - An Americanism, World War II.

Flying F at ck - Derives from the early phrase, not to give a f at ck (dated to 1879), the flying first appeared in the 30s as an alliterative emphasis.

Marc/Diarmaid

> Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:09:08 -0600
> From: felemid.macphail at gmail.com
> To: northkeep at lists.ansteorra.org
> Subject: Re: [Northkeep] Did you know where these expressions came from?
> 
> yea ,.... they are still fun  .... but when the Myth is bigger then truth
> print the myth ... 1900s newspaper man quote
> 
> On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 9:53 AM, Marc Carlson <marccarlson20 at hotmail.com>wrote:
> 
> > You do realized that most of these snippets are fakelore?