Duck Soup came the following year.
Anyone know an earlier cite?
It is, or used to be, a pretty common phrase; could be used for food, or for money, or for whatever you needed while waiting for the main supply of it to come in.
I have no idea of the derivation; but I’ve got quite a clear idea of what it means.
“Tide” derives from OE/ME words that mean “time”. Hence, a tide is a period or cycle. Therefore, tide over means to make it through the interval. It is fairly straightforward.
Thanks, @eschereal! That makes sense.
Of course it is, which is why I put it in quotation marks. And before the SNL skit even Rick Springfield’s song (Jessie’s girl, c. 1980) didn’t teach them: “I want to tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot.”
I have also heard moot used as a verb, something like “moot the proposition”, as in to put forth. I suspect that usage may have a different etymology.
It’s a moo point.
