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Falling off the face of the earth

Posted by ESC on October 02, 2008 at 16:10

In Reply to: Falling off the face of the earth posted by Cliff Bowman on October 02, 2008 at 13:49:

: : : : : : What is the origin and meaning of the phrase "falling off the face of the earth"?

: : : : : A guess. Some people used to think the world was flat, a plane, and that a ship could literally sail to the edge and fall off. (
[Dead link removed - ed]) So the phrase is used when someone hasn't been seen for a while -- has dropped out of sight.

: : : : That's a bit of a myth. No one has ever (a few of the the very strange 'Flat Earth Society' members aside)really believed the earth is flat. In the 4th Century BC Aristotle was drawing the earth as a sphere for example.

: : : : And anyone who has ever been on a ship would know that the world is not flat.

: : : : DFG

: : : It is a myth that all people in the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat, but "no one" and "ever" is an incredible overstatement.

: : The Wikipedia article covers all of the above.

: Would it be fruitful to start with "face of the earth" as a set phrase? I notice that it appears 33 times in the KJV translation of the Bible [Dead link removed - ed] That makes "face of the earth" a rather venerable (1611?) way to say "everywhere known to man."

: To me, "falling off" would follow pretty naturally, especially if the "flat Earth" myth were generally known (even if not widely believed).

My thought was that it was a joking reference to the flat earth theory.

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