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old hand
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old hand
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>was essentially a smooth-bore.
Something that can also be said of just about any Tony Blair oration.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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teD, they began rifling the barrels of cannon in the US during the recent unpleasantness (Civil War, that is).
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old hand
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OP
old hand
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Alrighty then - enough's enough. Thanks all for your efforts, the q was harder than I thought. To quote myself, "Any guesses as to what the common thread is?The answer that question is "cotton".  As for the link between the two phrases, I'm told (and my sources are fallible) that both phrases arose in South East USA - cotton country. So the story goes, when an important person sailed into the cotton ports the ship they were aboard fired one of its cannon. The bigger the bang the more important the personage. Hence "big shot". During the Civil War there were numerous Southern society women widowed. With a need to generate an income but without a bread winner, many sought employment at the cotton mills. They were well used to turning themselves out in full corsets, but soon found these too restrictive for mill work. By loosening their corsets they were better able to do the job expected of them. The same women were obviously keen to catch themselves a wealthy mill owner and therefore were the subject of derision by their more 'common' co-workers. No doubt the notion of loose-corseted women rapidly evolved into something more lurid among the worker folk. stales
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I seem to remember in the first of t;he Godfather series Mario Puzo mentioned early Italian
mobster leaders carried "pezo de novante" - ninety calibre pistols. Never saw name of
maker. But ninety calibre was indeed a "big shot".(PS - I'm unsure of spelling)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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member
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cotton? good i haven't been guessing
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think someone is having us on!
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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having us on
I found nothing about the origin of the phrase "loose woman" in any of my reputable word and phrase origin fave sites, probably because it doesn't really need an explanation. The loose corset theory sounds like a folk etymology. Refering to someone of loose moral standards seems pretty upfront to me.
The late origin of "big shot" would seem to argue against any cannon salute explanation. Is there any evidence that cannon salutes were ever used for anyone other than a head of state or other highly placed statesman or military type? And even then, it's not the size of the shot but the number of guns fired that denotes rank.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And even then, it's not the size of the shot but the number of guns fired that denotes rank.Must...resist...temptation... 
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old hand
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old hand
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Must...resist...temptation... ~ WhitmanOneill Why WO'N , nobody else has.
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