quite interesting; thanks for sending.
On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 4:24 PM, Felmon Davis <dav...@union.edu> wrote: On Wed, 10 Oct 2012, anne-ology wrote: > > ... this phrase comes from a novel(s) at the turn of the Century - >> when some writers were writing on the 'American dream'; >> it may have originated in the Horatio Alger series of >> books. >> > > I have had already written a couple of times, it comes from Baron von > Münchhausen who reported pulling himself out of swamp by his own bootstraps. > > more on the good Baron here: > > (11 May 1720 – 22 February 1797) was a German nobleman and a famous > recounter of tall tales. In his youth the Baron was sent to serve as a page > to Duke Anthony Ulrich II of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and later joined the > Russian military. He served until 1750, in particular taking part in two > campaigns against the Ottoman Turks. Returning home, Münchhausen is said to > have told a number of outrageously farfetched stories about his adventures. > He died in his birthplace of Bodenwerder. > > Even before his death, Münchhausen's reputation as a storyteller was > exaggerated by several writers, giving birth to a fully fictionalized > literary character usually called simply Baron Munchausen. The (fictional) > Baron's exploits, usually narrated by himself, focus on his impossible > achievements as a hunter, warrior, and traveler, including rides on > cannonballs and trips to the moon. > > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Baron_von_Münchhausen<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_von_M%C3%BCnchhausen> > > > > > F. > > >> FYI - when I think turn of the Century, I'm referring to 112, not >> 12, years ago ;-) >> >> BTW - many of these books have now been transcribed thanks to >> Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/, and can be read/downloaded from their >> various sites. >> This is a nice place for us oldsters to re-read many of these from >> the past ... >> and for you youngsters to read some nicely written books >> without the blasphemy, etc. in many of today's writings. >> >> Hoping you enjoy the day, the week, ... ... ... >> >> >> >> On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 5:41 AM, Tom Davies <tomdavie...@yahoo.co.uk> >> wrote: >> >> Hi :) >> >>> Thanks all that responded to this! Now I'm curious where the phrase >>> "raising yourself by your own bootstraps" came from. Is it something to >>> do >>> with horses? Postal services? >>> Regards from >>> Tom :) >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>> From: Doug <dmcgarr...@optonline.net> >>>> To: users@global.libreoffice.org >>>> Sent: Monday, 8 October 2012, 23:34 >>>> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] attempting to find an answer and >>>> instead >>>> >>> ... >>> >>>> >>>> >>>> The term "boot" or "boot up" comes from the idea of raising yourself by >>>> >>> your own bootstraps--seemingly impossible, but when you boot up, you are >>> using the operating system to start itself. >>> >>>> >>>> --doug >>>> >>>> -- For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: users+h...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
