thick on the subject

[Doug Harris]

Well, a real quick Google revealed at least one usage in 2001, so Maureen
didn't coin it.
And anyway, it's not, IMHO, so much a noteworthy phrase as a
convenient collection of words suiting a particular purpose.
Not, in other words, a phrase concocted for its own sake, but
simply to express, on the fly, a thought.
But maybe that's all any noteworthy phrase began as.
---------
The Same Dowd piece, datelined Paris, also included this:
'Angela Merkel dodged when asked at a press conference whether
she would miss W., but said she liked being able to "call a
spade a spade with him."'
Twas that a fox paw, an indication of a lack of familiarity
with American vernacular, or merely a hopefully-NOT-noteworthy
phrase?
dh

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