stick out like a sore thumb
An 81-year antedating of a hot phrase, one that etymologists have been looking at for a long time:Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 15:32:40 -0400From: Fred Shapiro Subject: Antedating of "Stand Out/Stick Out...
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Great find, Ozzie. What is the exact URL of "alt.usage.english"? It sounds like someplace I'd like to visit.
View ArticleRe: stick out like a sore thumb
Here's the link for alt.usage.English:alt.usage.english
View ArticleRe: stick out like a sore thumb
And all the time it was right under my fingers. Thanks, Ozzie.
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This alt.fan.cecil.adams thread suggests "who's buried in Grant's tomb" became a stereotypical dumb question in the 1940s and was popularized by Groucho Marx on his TV quiz show:gooja
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Few people get it right, actually.My maths teacher used it to help us remember the (correct) answer when we were asked what the square root of 4 was.
View ArticleRe: stick out like a sore thumb
The homepage of AUE (with more background info) is at alt-usage-english.org/. There's also alt.english.usage which I seem to remember, from my usenet days, is more directed at learners of English as a...
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This is an example of the impact of the "digital age". Apparently nobody could find an example of this before 1936 (or nobody looked very hard). Now I can find dozens before 1900 immediately without...
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Uncle Pud got me to search Wright American Fiction, a freebie, and I got:simple search in Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875 resulted in 1 match in 1 record Burnham, Geo. P. (1814-1902): The History...
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All these antedatings are quite thrilling and all, but don't answer the key question. Why is it a sore thumb and not a sore other-part-of-the-body?
View ArticleRe: stick out like a sore thumb
Because if you have a sore thumb you're more likely to bang it on things, forgetting that it is sore. For that matter, you wouldn't have to bang it - just take hold of something in the normal manner....
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