Good Lord but I’m having a dickens of a time finding the origin of this phrase.
Any help guys?
Thanks
Good Lord but I’m having a dickens of a time finding the origin of this phrase.
Any help guys?
Thanks
According to Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
I assume the reference is to Edmund Burke. The term was originally just “the great unwashed” (sometimes capitalized).
Strange that this is the $7 question on the new answers.google.com site.
See: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=121310
The concept was around far longer than the actual term. Our pal Shake definitely comes close at one point, in Julius Caesar:
Power to the people!
SHUSH on the Google Answer thing… I’m lookin’ for the 7 buckolas!
Off I go to offer untold riches for “the whole nine yards”
Ever smell any large crowd of people?