[PW] "Gory details" phrase origin

[John P. Dyson]

Quoting Nina Gilbert <ninagilbert at yahoo.com>:


> When/where/how did the phrase "gory details" originate?
>
> I'm preparing a lecture about a historical event whose details were
> truly gory (the events behind the opera "Un ballo in maschera" by
> Verdi), and it would be good to know the origin of the phrase.


I have no source for this, Nina, but I suspect that "gory details" 
entered the language as both synonym and euphemism for "bloody details" 
toward the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries 
--about the same time that "ruddy" came to substitute for "bloody" to 
avoid predictable attacks of the vapours...

John Dyson