Originally Posted By: beck123
I don't doubt that these type of phrases existed before the early 20th Century, but in reading older works, particularly dialogue in older works, they are scarce. The English in which I've grown up is absolutely saturated with them. As for Jeeves, that is exactly my point. Well spoken people of a certain age were not likely to use these phrases, whereas today they are used ubiquitously.


This could be the Recency Illusion.