Sayings we use today that were used in the period

[FeliciaKonrad]

While searching for something in a 1865 Godey's I found a saying we all would recognize "Bull in the China shop." This was the second saying we would recognize today that I found in a period source in the last 24 hours. The second was a reference to finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

What sayings that we hear today have you found in period sources?

"I mentally compared myself with the Bull in the China shop" pg 312 Godeys 1865

"The rainbow was so near we might easily have reached the end and 'found the pot of gold.'" Pg 106 Days on the Road Crossing the Plains in 1865

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Sayings we use today that were used in the period

How about "Indian Giver" or "shyster"? Check out Bartlett's Book of Americanisms 1848 and you will discover several pre-war Americanisms that are still used today.

http://www.merrycoz.org/voices/bartlett/Amer.xhtml