Thirteen and the odd

[Christopher Philippo]

On Nov 29, 2013, at 11:11 AM, Michael Quinion <wordseditor at worldwidewords.org> wrote:

> Thanks again to Christopher Philippo and others for helping me with this.
> My piece is in tomorrow's issue of World Wide Words. Sneak preview online here: http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/bcfm.htm

You’re welcome!  I still think it could be possible that it’s “phrase inflation” ( http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/nineyards.htm ) from “dressed to the nines,” or that the phrase had some resonance because of it.  Something to try given early citations mentioning Saratoga, but maybe a longshot (albeit in a place where historically those can be profitable): perhaps Saratoga historians might have something: Sean Kelleher is Town of Saratoga Historian, Mary Ann Fitzgerald is City of Saratoga Springs Historian, and Lauren Roberts is Saratoga County Historian (all municipalities in New York are required by state law to have a historian http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/09/new-yorks-curious-century-old-law-requiring-every-town-have-historian/2954/ ).  Contact information here: http://www.aphnys.org/find-an-histrorian/

“Thirteen and the odd” would seemingly mean fourteen or higher?  Looking for other “and the odd” phrases might turn something up, though those might be difficult to search for since “and” and “the” are typically ignored by search engines.

Christopher Philippo
Glenmont, NY

“These go to eleven…” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrVCjnRdB_k

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