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meat-juice OP t1_jao1tch wrote

Reply to comment by Raaka-Kake in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

Yes, pulling himself and his horse out of the swap by his pigtail haha.

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Fake_William_Shatner t1_jao5p2y wrote

And, it's featured in the movie of the same name by Terry Gilliam.

TIL: Baron von Munchausen was an actual story before the movie.

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GozerDGozerian t1_japmxt6 wrote

TIL Terry Gilliam has a movie about Baron Avon Munchausen! Putting that one in the queue!

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CartmansEvilTwin t1_japyw1j wrote

And Münchhausen Syndrome is an actual mental illness. It's basically people compulsively lying about almost anything.

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Provokateur t1_jaqbc1e wrote

Specifically it's lying about having an illness in order to get attention.

Almost no compulsive lying qualifies.

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