[Ads-l] "sitting on a dark secret"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Earlier this week Henry Winkler described the mayor in his new movie as
"sitting on a very dark secret."

This rang many bells, so I thought I'd check it out:

1956 _News and Observer_ (Raleigh, N.C.) (Sept. 5) 2: Many automobile
dealers consider they're sitting on a big, dark secret,

1961 _Sheboygan Press_ (Sept. 8) 16: Some automobile dealers consider
they're sitting on a big, dark secret.

1997 _Independent_ (London) (Apr. 20) (Sunday Review) 5: Everyone always
wants to believe that Cliff Richard is sitting in a dark secret.

2009 _Seattle Times_ (May 1) (NWTicket) 14: The planet Terra is inhabited
by cute creatures...sitting on a dark secret.

Sounds like it may have originated in movie publicity or in a paperback
blurb.

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

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