[lit-ideas] Re: What Did You Do When America Was Attacked?
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 08:19:08 -0600
Brian (in response to my "Nice try, Brian, but no cigar"):
>What's that supposed to mean?
Close, but no cigar
Meaning: Fall just short of a successful outcome and get nothing for your
efforts.
Origin: The phrase, and its variant 'nice try, but no cigar', are of US origin
and date from the mid-20th century. Fairground stalls gave out cigars as
prizes, and this is the most likely source, although there's no definitive
evidence to prove that.
It is first recorded in print in Sayre and Twist's publishing of the script of
the 1935 film version of Annie Oakley:
"Close, Colonel, but no cigar!"
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/close-but-no-cigar.html
Or were you asking why I would use that expression? Just trying to take the
sting out of rejection.
Mike Geary
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