Timeline for What's the origin of the idiom "to be left holding the bag"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 13, 2017 at 10:13 | vote | accept | Mace | ||
| Mar 13, 2017 at 10:13 | |||||
| Mar 10, 2017 at 17:46 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Mace: Whether it's BrE baby or AmE bag, whatever you're left holding is going to be a figurative reference in the idiomatic usage. But although I must have heard left holding the bag pretty often over a lifetime, I think I'd always be alert to the possibility that it might actually allude to being left holding the empty bag, which doesn't have exactly the same implications. In short, it's potentially ambiguous to me. | |
| Mar 10, 2017 at 15:42 | comment | added | Mace | That's a very interesting aspect. I'm not a native speaker and didn't know the version with baby. I agree that an unplanned pregnancy would be closer to an average person's experiences than the criminals story. | |
| Mar 10, 2017 at 14:14 | history | edited | FumbleFingers | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 10, 2017 at 13:30 | history | answered | FumbleFingers | CC BY-SA 3.0 |