Origin of metaphor "cutting it fine" please

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Pervert
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Re: Origin of metaphor "cutting it fine" please

Post by Pervert »

"JJ, Pedants' College Cambridge."
Pervert
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jj
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Re: Origin of metaphor "cutting it fine" please

Post by jj »

JJ, Google Research Institute, writes:
No luck- and I'm not prepared to wade through several pages of Interwebby tommyrot on the off-chance, on a stomach-full of Guinness and no din-din.
My guess, 4WIW, is it's a reference to the diamond-trade.
"a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the
signification...."
Bob Singleton
Posts: 1975
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Origin of metaphor "cutting it fine" please

Post by Bob Singleton »

I believe that it comes from tailoring.

The more cloth "wasted" in seams the less profit, so tailors were taught to cut the cloth fine (that is to say as close to the chalk mark as possible).

The resultant material left over for seams was sometimes so narrow it left little room for manouevre!

"But how to make Liverpool economically prosperous? If only there was some way for Liverpudlians to profit from going on and on about the past in a whiny voice."

- Stewart Lee
Bob Singleton
Posts: 1975
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Origin of metaphor "cutting it fine" please

Post by Bob Singleton »

If you wish, I can also tell you the origin of "OK" and the V sign, too! :o) hehehe

"But how to make Liverpool economically prosperous? If only there was some way for Liverpudlians to profit from going on and on about the past in a whiny voice."

- Stewart Lee
jj
Posts: 28225
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am

Re: Origin of metaphor "cutting it fine" please

Post by jj »

Much more plausible.
"a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the
signification...."
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