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Get along famously

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on May 04, 2005

In Reply to: Get along famously posted by Melissa Atkins on May 04, 2005

: I'm trying to find out where the phrase "get along famously" came from. It is known that it means to have a great relationship with someone... but where did the famously come from? Is it a reference to somebody's well known close relationship?

:No. It comes from a colloquial use of "famous" meaning "splendid, excellent". At pretty much any time in the 19th century, if you heard good news you might have said "Oh, famous! That's famous news!" and nobody would have thought you were saying "Oh, well-known!"

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