Fat lady singing ...

[Michael Quinion]

My feeling is that this belongs under the "for entertainment only"
heading as a candidate for a sequel to "Port Out, Starboard Home",
unless of course anybody knows differently ...

> You gave the origin as perhaps being something to do with opera or
> baseball. Actually in the game of pool the black ball was known as
> "the fat lady" (because the No. 8 on it looked like two fat ladies)
> and the original saying was that the game "ain't over till the fat
> lady sinks". Over time, the "sinks" eventually became "sings".

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <editor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>