Query: "off the hook"

[Sam Clements]

The OED cites it as related to "on the hook."  And most of the cites relate
to baited hooks.  So, fishing would be a good guess.

samclem

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 1:59 PM
Subject: Query: "off the hook"


>  A student has asked me the origin of the expression "I'm off the hook."
> Is the original reference to a fish hook? A butcher's hook? Some other
> hook?
>
>    Would anyone perhaps know?
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org