How is it that you come to know something “like the back of your hand” Where does this expression originate from?
What do you see a lot of when working on something?
Let’s see: Yep, “Posts: 1”
Ok,
I had guessed that allready. I.E. the natural explanation why, for example, the forearms on michaelangelo’s sculptures are so anatomically accurate. I guess what I really want to know is whether or not we can attribute the phrase to a particular country, region, city, discipline, occupation, person etc. How and when did this phrase evolve as a colloquialism?
It looks like no one knows. Anyone care to remind us what those sites are to search for word or phrase origins?
Ok, I’ve checked: The O.E.D. ,
Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang,
Dictionary of Slang and unconventional English, Eric Partridge,
Slang and Euphemism, Richard Spears,
Dictionary of Americanisms, U of Chicago and,
NTC’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions.
Nada.
These are all primarily American pubs, and I don’t think it unreasonable to guess that the phrase is not of American origin.
But there has to be a more comprehensive Linguistic reference that I am not aware of…Anyone???
-c