# Where is this phrase from- "barring fire, flood, or civil unrest?" \[edited title\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-phrase-from-barring-fire-flood-or-civil-unrest-edited-title/630324>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 3, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-phrase-from-barring-fire-flood-or-civil-unrest-edited-title/630324 "2012-08-03T17:46:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MikeLBoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@MikeLBoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeLBoise)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-phrase-from-barring-fire-flood-or-civil-unrest-edited-title/630324/1 "2012-08-03T17:46:36Z")

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What is the origin of the phrase “barring fire, flood, or civil unrest?”  
I have searched a number of etymology sites, and asked at [grammarphobia.com](http://grammarphobia.com). I have asked our local reference librarian. No one can identify it. My sense is that it might be a clause from some form of old contract, but I invented that idea. I can Google it and find lots of other usage examples, but so far none has pointed to its origin. The person I heard it from would now be 90, and lived in NE Pa. His father was a stockbroker and attended an Ivy-league university in the nineteen-teens (pre WWI.)  
Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-phrase-from-barring-fire-flood-or-civil-unrest-edited-title/630324/2 "2012-08-03T18:33:41Z")

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If you make a more informative subject header you might get more responses.

Ask a mod.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-phrase-from-barring-fire-flood-or-civil-unrest-edited-title/630324/3 "2012-08-04T00:25:02Z")

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> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> If you make a more informative subject header you might get more responses.
> 
> Ask a mod.

I’ve done this for him just now.

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Cornholio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Cornholio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Cornholio)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-phrase-from-barring-fire-flood-or-civil-unrest-edited-title/630324/4 "2012-08-04T00:48:25Z")

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Sounds like a way of saying “Come Hell or high water” to me, and I think you are right in thinking it has to do with contracts - those things are covered by “Force Majeure”.