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The long and the short of it

Posted by RRC on March 27, 2008 at 14:58:

In Reply to: The long and the short of it posted by Dianne on March 27, 2008 at 12:09:

: In reply to "Posted by ESC on October 30, 2005" (www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 43 messages 952.html) . I am suggesting that the origin of the saying "The long and the short of it" comes from the Bible at Mark 16:8. Some manuscripts follow with either a long or short version. This seems to predate other opinions by several hundreds of years.

First: Mark 16:8 (KJV) is "And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid."
Second: ESC's citation is from 1330. It is unlikely that you are looking at an English translation that is before 1582 (Douay-Rheims) or 1611 (King James Version). If we knew the actual verse you're referring to we could look up the original Greek or the Vulgate Latin and see how close the English translator followed it (or not).

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