Pull the boots up

[Paul Frank]

Isn't the usual expression to "pull yourself up by the bootstraps"?

Paul

Paul Frank
Translator
German, French, Italian > English
Rue du Midi 1, Aigle, Switzerland
paulfrank at post.harvard.edu


On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 10:00 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: Pull the boots up
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Telling someone to "pull up your boots and get to work" goes back to at
> least the 19th century. Why do you think this construction is so odd?
>
> DanG
>
> On 6/14/2010 3:55 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
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>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  victor steinbok<aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â Pull the boots up
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> This is not a particularly inspired observation, but it's bothered me
>> since last night. During the press conference (Q&A, really), following
>> the loss in the fifth game of the NBA finals, Kobe Bryant identified
>> the goal for the remainder of the series--the team will just have to
>> "pull the boots up and get to work". It struck me as an odd
>> combination, although it's rather obvious what was intended.
>>
>> VS-)

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