the thing of it is...

[Mark Mandel]

How old is this expression? I've always associated it with my teenage years
in the sixties, so I was surprised recently to find Eloise, the sassy young
heroine of Kay Thompson's 1955 classic children's book (illustrated by
Hilary Knight), saying "The thing of it is..."

It's the title of a 1967 novel by William Goldman (
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/william-goldman/thing-of-it-is.htm).
It's not in OED Online.

m a m

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