halstead987 t1_jap9r97 wrote on March 3, 2023 at 1:46 AM Reply to 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 Reading this made me think of Cumberland Blues from Workingmans Dead Permalink 1
halstead987 t1_jap9r97 wrote
Reply to 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
Reading this made me think of Cumberland Blues from Workingmans Dead