[Ads-l] The cavalry arrives in the nick of time.

[Jonathan Lighter]

Good find.

The phrase seems to have become proverbial only in the '20s or '30s (at the
earliest) presumably with reference to some forgotten movie/s. (I was
unable to find the phrase in any early film review, however.)

JL


On Wed, Dec 1, 2021 at 5:13 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Interesting phrase, JL. In 1885 "cavalry is shown as coming up in the
> nick of time".
>
> [ref] 1885 October, The Army and Navy Quarterly, Volume 1, Number 4,
> The Functions of Cavalry in Modern War by Major Graves, Twentieth
> Hussars, Part 2, (Read before the Royal United Service Institution),
> Start Page 405, Quote Page 408, L. R. Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,
> Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=rfXNAAAAMAAJ&q=%22nick+of%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The action of Tamai affords an example in which cavalry is shown as
> coming up in the nick of time, dismounting, firing, and thus checking
> the enemy's advance, gave our infantry time to re-form.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Nov 30, 2021 at 11:37 AM Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > [1914 _Baltimore Sun_ (June 14) Italians Burn Two Churches...Had not a
> > detachment of cavalry arrived there in the nick of time, the rioters, who
> > had sprinkled the cathedral with petroleum, would have caused its utter
> > destruction.]
> >
> > 1924  _Miami Herald_ (Nov. 16) 22: Some of his experiences during the
> > Indian wars have been made the basis of novels....The cavalry actually
> > arrived in the nick of time.
> >
> > 1931 _New Orleans States_ (Feb. 2) 8:  "Beau Ideal," sequel to "Beau
> > Geste," is featured on the screen....The cavalry arrives in the nick of
> > time and the boys are freed.
> >
> > 1932 _Boston Globe_ (July 20) 14: The good old days, when the United
> States
> > Cavalry always arrived in the nick of time.
> >
> > 1936 _Trenton Evening Times_ (Parade of Youth) 6: _Wild West_...starring
> > Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey...But the United States Cavalry arrives
> in
> > the nick of time to save everybody.
> >
> > 1939 _Dallas Morning News_ (July 9) 8: The McKinney Examiner, like the
> > Second U.S. Cavalry, arrives in the nick of time.
> >
> > 1953 _Springfield [Mass.] Sunday Republican_ (Dec. 13) 16C:  The cavalry
> > arrived in the nick of time in the shape of two bluecoats [police
> officers]
> > who didn't understand the Micmac language.
> >
> > Etc.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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