Browse phrases beginning with: [A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U,V][W][X,Y,Z] Joined at the hipMeaning Inextricably linked - inseparable. Origin
Chang and Eng Bunker (1811–1874) were a celebrated (although not the first) pair of conjoined twins and, being from Siam, they are the source of the term Siamese twins. They were billed under that name in P.T. Barnum's circus throughout the 1830s. They were joined at the sternum (chest). The figurative use of the term is American and dates from the 1960s. The earliest printed record of it that I can find is from the Californian newspaper the Pasadena Star-News, March 1963:
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