"truth to tell"

[Michael Quinion]

On 8/4/06 1:04 PM, "sagehen" <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:

> Anyone out there have a sense of when "to tell the truth" morphed into
> "truth to tell"? Even though I regard it as a silly bit of havering, I
> must admit that I do utter "to tell the truth" sort of automatically at
> times.  But "truth to tell" sets my teeth on edge for some reason. I
> can't remember when I first began to notice it, but it seems to be
> getting more common.

There doesn't seem to be an example in OED2, though it is cited. But it
has clearly been around for some time. This is from Little Annie's Ramble,
by Nathaniel Hawthorne (in "Twice Told Tales", 1837): "But, truth to tell,
she is apt to turn away from the printed page, and keep gazing at the
pretty pictures, such as the gay-colored ones which make this shopwindow
the continual loitering-place of children." I've only looked quickly at my
literature database, but it is common in both British and North American
literature by the end of the nineteenth century.


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

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