Inventors of Familiar Phrases.

Otago Witness, Issue 2161, 25 July 1895, Page 54

Inventors of Familiar Phrases.

'•To fire out;," in the sense of a forcible ejection, is found in Shakespeare, in Sonnet 144. The words "Emerald Isle," aa applied to Ireland, were first' used by Dr Dxennan in a poem entitled " Enn." 41 The cup that cheers, but not inebriates" is first mentioned by Gowper in the " Task." The allusion is to teacups. " Facts are stubborn things" is an aphorism first mentioned by Le Sage in "Gil Bias " " No flies on him," given as an Americanism, is found in ''Dou Quixote," where it tcuurd as one of the uayiig- of Saucho Panza The "Cele-ttial Empire," referring to the domain of China, has a significance iv the Chinese legend that the early rulers of that coantry were all deities. The word "flirtation," according to Lord Chesterfield, was manufactured by Lady Frances Shirley, who used it in the ezact sense attached to it to-day. The expression to "rain cats and dogs," indicating a severe shower, is found in Dean

j Switt. It is supposed t) be much older than his time. "Fiisco" inen.llß a b-tfcle or flask. When the Italian glas&blowers detected flaws in the va.'e they were blowing, they made »n ordinary bottle of the failure, and hence the name. " Familiarity breeds contempt" is a proverb found in one form or another in every B'uopean and Asiatic language. Its earliest form is believed to be the Sanskrit. To- "turn the cold shoulder" is probably a very ancient proverb. It first appears in a literary form in Scott'a " Antiquary," where it is used with exactly the significance attached to it at present;. "Never less alone than when alone" has bees traced from one aulher to another, and many claims have been m&de to its firat employment. It waß certainly used by Cicero. To " pile on agoDy " is popularly auppo-ed to be an Americanism. It is, however, found in one of the letters of Charlotte Bronte, and was used in Euglish popular literature before the beginning of the present century. "Crocodile tears" are alluded to by several Latin and Greek authors, it btiiig a superstition among the ancients that the crocodile, after killing a man, ate all his body but his hf-ad, aed shed tears over that before eating it also.