Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 148, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1919 — Popular Phrases. [ARTICLE]

Popular Phrases.

“What is a popular phrase?" soms one once asked. “Something we all repeat like parrots, without knowing its real origin or meaning,” was the reply of the cynic; and to a certain extent he was right, observes an exchange. How many of us, for instance, can tell where the terms “tuft hunters” and “fools’ paradise” arose? As a matter of fact, the latter phrase originated in the theological argument that there is a place for fools just outside panb dise, while the term “tuft hunting” took its rise at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, where at one time the young noblemen wore a peculiarly formed cap with a tuft, which presumably attracted hangers on.