Poverty
I don't know how, I don't know when, but the earliest usage I was able to find is in the title of Chapter 4 of "The Nest of the Sparrow Hawk" by Baroness Emmuska Orczy published in 1909. (She was also the creator of the Scarlet Pimpernel)
It would appear the phrase has been with us for awhile. Can anyone find an earlier usage? Perhaps someplace in Dickens?
It would appear the phrase has been with us for awhile. Can anyone find an earlier usage? Perhaps someplace in Dickens?
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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- Slava
- Great Grand Panjandrum
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I guess that explains the need for a sheep, eh?The conversation reminds me of Haiti. I've visited there,
and it is deep, grinding poverty. Memories I wish I could
forget, but probably better that I don't.
By the by, if you like opera, one was made of The Little Prince. It's rather fun.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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I need the sheep for the wool: warmth. It is going below
zero tonight, again and again.
I love the Little Prince. Used the French version years
ago in 2nd year French which I used to teach.
I don't know if I've ever seen the 'opera". Is that the
same as the movie with Richard Kiley and Gene Wilder???
zero tonight, again and again.
I love the Little Prince. Used the French version years
ago in 2nd year French which I used to teach.
I don't know if I've ever seen the 'opera". Is that the
same as the movie with Richard Kiley and Gene Wilder???
-----please, draw me a sheep-----
- Slava
- Great Grand Panjandrum
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I didn't know about the movie, I may have to check it out one of these days.
Here's a link to the opera CD:
http://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Portman-Li ... 47&sr=1-12
Here's a link to the opera CD:
http://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Portman-Li ... 47&sr=1-12
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Hey, I am very appreciative. I put it on my wish list.
It is not the same as the movie, I mentioned.
The movie with Gene Wilder is decades old, and there
is another with Joseph McManners done recently
(he is 17 yrs. now), but I cannot find it except on YouTube.
Thanks, I will be getting this CD.
It is not the same as the movie, I mentioned.
The movie with Gene Wilder is decades old, and there
is another with Joseph McManners done recently
(he is 17 yrs. now), but I cannot find it except on YouTube.
Thanks, I will be getting this CD.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----
I've found a couple more examples that push back the date of this expression a few years:
"Grinding poverty will have that effect . . . " James Joyce, Ulysses (The Night Town section I think)
"Besides, foreigners could not see so clearly as the Russians how much the Government was responsible for the grinding poverty of the masses."
Samuel Clemens, Letter dated July 1, 1890
"Grinding poverty will have that effect . . . " James Joyce, Ulysses (The Night Town section I think)
"Besides, foreigners could not see so clearly as the Russians how much the Government was responsible for the grinding poverty of the masses."
Samuel Clemens, Letter dated July 1, 1890
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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That was just a guess as to what the question was. As originally worded I thought it was suggested that grinding was used as a gerund ("the grinding")- a usage I've never actually heard. If the question is on adjectival use, well that would be very hard to pin down, as we all apply whatever adjective suits our fancy at the time.
Anyway, "back to the old grind" is the only use of grind I can think of even tangentially related to the idea of hardship.
Anyway, "back to the old grind" is the only use of grind I can think of even tangentially related to the idea of hardship.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!
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