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Once more unto the brink

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on October 24, 2007

In Reply to: Once more unto the brink posted by Gary Martin on October 19, 2007

: : Once more unto the brink...

: : So, what's the origin of it? I say it all the time and know what it means, but I have no clue from where it comes.

: That's a paraphrase of Shakespeare. See:


Perhaps it's not so much a paraphrase as an eggcorn - that is, a rationalisation of an unfamiliar word into something more familiar? Unless you are familiar with Shakespeare and/or pre-20th-century warfare, you are unlikely to know what a breach is, nor why anyone should urge people unto one. (VSD)

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