i have heard the expression “six ways to sunday” (for example) about a million times, and i have heard it used with the numbers ranging from 3 to 8, eg., “eight ways to sunday” etc. i’ve even heard with the “from” instead of “to”.
when i ask people what that saying means, they ALL say “dunno”. i then assume by the “dunno” that they can’t defend the number they’re using either.
can anyone bring me into the light on this one? i’d like to start using - once in a while - this saying, but i refuse to do so until i know what the heck it means. and what number i should use!
Got to agree with donkeyoatey that story is so obviously a fabrication that it’s ridiculous and certainly wasn’t true in any of the catholic churches I attended.
I’d say the jury’s still out on this phrase’s origins. Word Wizard’s discussion forum found no definite answer, except for this possible snippet of info:
Yeah, I realized that right away, too, Motog.
But what makes Linear’s crack a lot more ironic is my quote is not only from the page he cited, it’s the very next lines.
Judging from the date of the first usage and the context I would put forth the suggestion that this is a euphemistic construction of some earlier and less genteel phrase. Perhapse “Six ways from Hell.” or “Six ways from the Devil”, etc.
er, i’ve tried Google and all i come up with are asinine explanations like the one Linear Crack provided. 1982? interesting. nonsense, but interesting.
but thanks all. is there any way we can get Cecil in on this? i believe i’ve found something that just might stop him in his tracks.
but knowing Cecil, he kick my ass on this eight ways to Sunday.
