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I used the phrase "selling like hotcakes" earlier and wondered about its origins.
In some cases I've found that I completely misuderstood the meaning of the phrase. For example, IIRC, the phrase "going off half-cocked" was an expression used in the civil war that literally meant that a soldier's gun was almost ready to fire. I don't know what exactly I thought it meant to be fully cocked, as opposed to half-cocked, but now it seems to refer more to a state of mind.
I used the phrase "selling like hotcakes" earlier and wondered about its origins.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/6/messages/241.htmlSELL LIKE HOT CAKES - "Hot cakes cooked in bear grease or pork lard were popular from earliest times in American. First made of cornmeal, the griddle cakes or pancakes were of course best when served piping hot and were often sold at church benefits, fairs, and other functions. So popular were they that by the beginning of the 19th century 'to sell like hot cakes' was a familiar expression for anything that sold very quickly effortlessly, and in quantity." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)
In some cases I've found that I completely misuderstood the meaning of the phrase. For example, IIRC, the phrase "going off half-cocked" was an expression used in the civil war that literally meant that a soldier's gun was almost ready to fire. I don't know what exactly I thought it meant to be fully cocked, as opposed to half-cocked, but now it seems to refer more to a state of mind.
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