Re: Stick in the Mud
Michael Quinion would and did.He says the phrase was first recorded in 1733 with essentially the modern meaning: a person who is stolid and unimaginative, content with his lot and unprepared to make...
View ArticleRe: Stick in the Mud
The OED's cites from that year:1733 Gen. Evening Post 15-17 Nov. 2/1 George Fluster, alias Stick in the Mud, has made himself an Evidence, and impeached the above two Persons.1733 Country Jrnl. 15...
View ArticleRe: Stick in the Mud
That "alias"A google tells us that a George Fluster was imprisoned at that time and was married in 1734 in prison as well. Seems that as a criminal his nickname or alias might have been...
View ArticleRe: Stick in the Mud
Since the General Evening Post and the Country Journal were both London newspapers, I was tempted to believe both 1733 cites refer to related events, with the alias being incorrectly applied in one...
View ArticleRe: Stick in the Mud
I find it hard to understand how our modern meaning of stick-in-the-mud would apply to a criminal.Oh, criminals can have all sorts of nicknames, and it's certainly possible that his fellow malefactors...
View Article
