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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
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The phrase might be connected to the Army-Navy football rivalry. The goat has been the Navy mascot since at least 1893 (see http://www.nadn.navy.mil/PAO/facts/Goat.html) and I believe that the two academies have tried to kidnap each other’s mascots (Army’s is a mule) ever since. The date and place of first usage would fit, and the meaning of “getting one’s goat” to be an irritant would be a direct lift.
This was actually the first thing I thought of, but I figured it would be too recent a fad to have created the phrase, but it looks like at least a possibility. Good thinking (and research)!
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
as mentioned above, Mencken includes the possible racehorse connection in a footnote in The American Language, but what the AHD didn't mention is that Mencken goes on: A variant etymology was printed in the London Morning Post, Jan. 31, 1935. It was so precious that it deserves to be embalmed: "Among the Negores in Harlem it is the custom for each household to keep a goat to act as general scavenger. Occasionally one man will steal another's goat, and the household debris then accumulates, to the general annoyance."
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130
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Thinking out loud here...
Seems to me that our friends in the UK have a taste for quince jelly. Could it be possible then, that to get on one's quince might refer to the annoyance of finding some kind of detritus or insect alighted on their morning toast?
That would certainly get on my quince... especially if I was late for work.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130
member
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130 |
Thinking out loud here...
Seems to me that our friends in the UK have a taste for quince jelly. Could it be possible then, that to get on one's quince might refer to the annoyance of finding some kind of detritus or insect alighted on their morning toast?
That would certainly get on my quince... especially if I was late for work.
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