smart cookie
Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:12 am
I'm curious about smart cookie, which was used in a recent broadcast of A Way With Words that focused on food expressions. Unfortunately, the show didn't give either the meaning or the origin of the idiom.
The Online Etymology Dictionary says smart cookie goes back to 1948 but gives no specifics.
My question is whether smart cookie originally referred to women only, as implied here:
http://membres.lycos.fr/cinemaparlant/a ... ortune.htm
A quick search on Google shows plenty of references to male smart cookies today.
Thanks!
--Cliff
The Online Etymology Dictionary says smart cookie goes back to 1948 but gives no specifics.
My question is whether smart cookie originally referred to women only, as implied here:
http://membres.lycos.fr/cinemaparlant/a ... ortune.htm
A quick search on Google shows plenty of references to male smart cookies today.
Thanks!
--Cliff