"second-hand"--(possible blend)

[Mark A. Mandel]

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> posits:
   >>>>>
Perhaps this usage of "second-hand" is better understood as a shortened
form of "second-hand nature".  Google throws up dozens of examples...
 <<<<<

That just pushes the question back one stage further. "Second-hand nature"
is one I have never heard before, and makes me ask whether *it* originated
as a blend of "second-hand" and "second nature".

And that still wouldn't mean that this meaning of "second-hand" hadn't had
multiple origins.

-- Mark
[I talk, Dragon NaturallySpeaking types, I correct. Neither of us is
perfect.]