Steve Bennett wrote:
On 11/26/06, Daniel P. B. Smith wikipedia2006@dpbsmith.com wrote:
(It's always annoyed me that people that quote "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" don't understand that it is a specific reference to the "free lunches" offered by saloons).
Well, I didn't. But you can't know the derivation of *every* saying...
Do you say "the spitting image" or the "spit and image"? Do you say "chomping at the bit" or "champing at the bit"? Do you say "one foul swoop" or "one fell swoop"?
Interesting questions!
It appears that "chomp" is a dialectical variation of the verb "champ", and goes back at least to the 17th century. Give "champ" a more British pronunciation, and that becomes understandable. That "champ" could be used to express two different types of biting adds to the confusion. The reference to a succession of quick bites seems more indicative of impatience. "Coffee and opium are taken down, tobacco but in smoke, and betel is but champed in the mouth with a little lime." Francis Bacon as quoted in Johnson's Dictionary.
"Spitting image" seems to be a relatively recent variation. See http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxspitan.html . The claim there is that "spitting image" first appeared in 1901, yet a Google book search gave me an entry from the "American Annals of the Deaf" dated 1886. The earlier "fire-spitting image" (1846) appears to take us in a different direction.
"Fell swoop" appears correct. The adjective "fell" means "evil" even though the evil denotation appears to have fallen away in recent years. It's most famous use is in Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act IV, Scene III) where Macduff comments "What, all my pretty chickens and their dam / At one fell swoop?" upon hearing that his family had been murdered.
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