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"Yours" as closing

Posted by ESC on January 15, 2003

In Reply to: "Yours" as closing posted by R. Berg on January 15, 2003

: : Two real problem origins for me, can someone help? I'm a librarian in Ohio, USA in a High School and cannot find an answer to either of these phrases.

: : Played like a fiddle-meaning to be manipulated artfully.

: : Yours truly-as in the sign off of a letter.

: : When/where did this begin in our language???

: The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest example of "yours" in the closing of a letter is dated about 1430. There have been many variations.
: "Yours to death, and after death, Luke Kirbie"
: "I depend on your mighty Talent . . . and on that Score, remain, Most Lovingly Yours."
: Presumably the early examples were written in England.

: I couldn't find anything about the "fiddle" expression.

I couldn't find the fiddle either. I thought it was "played me like a piano."

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