arms length relative

[Joel S. Berson]

This started me wondering -- was the origin of "[keep at] arms
length" the limb or the lance?

Joel

At 5/30/2009 01:08 AM, Herb Stahlke wrote:
>Doug Harris just wrote, "Just found this in a note on a Facebook page
>(of an arms-length relative of whom I'd never heard until two days
>ago):"  I am unfamiliar with the expression "arms length relative," so
>I googled it and got a total of 43 hits, the vast majority of which
>use "relative" as a comparative in the structure "relative to."  The
>only hit that seem similar to Doug's was
>
>Even employees of arm's-length relative Qantas use the site regularly.
>Keeping fresh. Simply putting its Q&As online was only the start for
>...
>www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Jetstar-support-soars-with-RightNow/0,139023769,139240310,00.htm
>
>I assume Doug meant a distant relative, otherwise known as a
>"shirt-tail cousin."
>
>Herb
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org