[PW] "Gory details" phrase origin

[Nina Gilbert]

Interesting!  It would also be interesting to trace the evolution away from literal gore, into the modern cliché -- where "gory" is more of a metaphorical intensifier that seems to imply "more details than a normal person would want to know."  As in, "Tell me all the gory details about how this list developed the name Project Wombat."

I'm using "gory details" in the title of an upcoming lecture about an assassination -- that of Gustavus III of Sweden in 1692, the basis of the plot of Verdi's opera _Un ballo in maschera_.  But the title is supposed to sound surprising -- reminding listeners that the actual details were gory.

Thank you,

Nina Gilbert
Education and Community Programs Manager, Boston Lyric Opera
 
------------------------------------------------
Nina Gilbert
ninagilbert at yahoo.com



----- Original Message ----
From: Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
To: list at project-wombat.org
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 7:22:06 PM
Subject: Re: [PW] "Gory details" phrase origin

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007, John Henderson wrote:

> The earliest mention in the New York Times is back in 2 October 1888

American Periodical Series takes it back to Nov. 1, 1875, when it appeared 
in The Literary World; a Monthly Review of Current Literature.

Fred Shapiro