Re: Suits
to a T
Posted by James
Briggs on March 08, 2002 In Reply to: Re:
Suits to a T posted by ESC on March 08, 2002
: : Does anyone
know that origin of this phrase?
: TO A T - "We use this expression very commonly
in the sense of minute exactness, perfection; as, the coat fits to a T; the meat
was done to a T. It is easy to dismiss the origin of the expression as, I am sorry
to say, some of our leading dictionaries do, by attributing it to the draftsman's
T-square, which is supposed to be an exact instrument, but the evidence indicates
that the expression was in common English use before the T-square got its name.
'To a T' dates back to the seventeenth century in literary use and was undoubtedly
common in everyday speech long before any writer dared to or thought to use it
in print. But it is likely that the name of the instrument, 'T-square,' would
have been in print shortly after its invention, yet the first mention is in the
eighteenth century. The sense of the expression corresponds, however, with the
older one, 'to a tittle,' which appeared almost a century earlier, and meant 'to
a dot,' as in 'jot or tittle.' Beaumont used it in 1607, and it is probably that
colloquial use long preceded his employment of the phrase." From "2107 Curious
Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions from White Elephants to a Song and Dance"
by Charles Earle Funk (Galahad Books, New York, 1993).
There is another possible
origin, based on the fact that the saying was in use in the 17th century, before
the T square was invented. This one suggests that the T stands for "Title", a
minute and precisely positioned pen stroke or printer's mark. A tiny brushstroke
was all that distinguished the Hebrew letter "dalet" from "resh". "Title" was
the word chosen by Wycliffe to translate references to this tiny difference in
his version of the New Testament. Thus the mark was perfectly suited to its task.
- Re: Suits to a T nita 03/08/02 (
0)
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