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ETYMOLOGY See Michael Quinion's World Wide Words: By the great horn spoon EXAMPLE From: Harrington A Story of True Love Wm. Douglas O'Connor, 1860
5 Comments
Barbara T. Smith
18/3/2020 04:22:50 pm
I believe\the phrase, "by the great horn spoon" began before the 1963 book because my Dad used to say it as an exclamation when I was a kid in the 1940's. I am 88. I am not sure but I thought it referred to a constellation in the sky.
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Sue
5/12/2021 05:31:35 am
It appears to refer to the Big Dipper Ursa Major
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Mark A Golding
17/1/2023 07:46:47 am
I think that I remember Scrooge McDuck saying "by the great horn spoon" in a comic from the 1950s or 1960s. And I think that is the only time I read that phrase.
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Grandma
18/11/2023 01:01:54 pm
Laura Ingalls Wilder's Pa used the expression in one of the Little House books, but I can't remember which one. So that was quite some time ago.
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