In reply to:

No idea of the origin but to be "sent to Coventry" means no one speaks to you or acknowleges your presence.

It's said to date back to the Civil War (1640s) when Royalist prisoners of war were detained in Coventry, a Midlands town which was a staunch Parlimentarian stronghold, and ostracised by the townsfolk there.

One phrase much used as a mild expletive by a Dorset lass I know is "Do things to ducks."

Bingley


Bingley