03-13-2008, 02:27 AM
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lumpy proletariat
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Specific Northwest
Gender: Female
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Re: Explanation, please (primary election thing)
HMPH-
Quote:
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I thought this vernacular phrase originated during construction and operation of the Erie Canal, completed in 1825, and it referred to the horses, which “TOWED THE LINE” (is in tow a rope) used to pull the loaded barges (first of dirt, then of goods) along the canal. Small trains later replaced the horses until eventually, the economics preferred trains over barges and the canal system served only local markets which trains did not serve. Does anyone have a date of earliest recorded use for “toe the line”? If it is not older than 1825, perhaps “TOW THE LINE” is the proper phrase.
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From comments here: Surely as reliable as wikies, after all, I found it on the interweb.
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