Fake_William_Shatner t1_jaoc533 wrote on March 2, 2023 at 9:44 PM

Reply to comment by meat-juice 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

Wow -- thanks for the origin of "jib". So many terms come from sailing, but, did not know the "jib" started with noses and THEN the leading sail on a boat. But, I get that it does look like a nose on a schooner.