Comments | little_details: origin of a phrase

tinnean in little_details

origin of a phrase

Sep 22, 2018 13:06

I'm writing a story set in 1870 in the United States. My character has traveled to Europe, but he's West Point trained and fought in the Civil War, and he's been a wagon master as well, taking trains out to the west coast. I need to know if I can have him say, "Okay, I'll bite ( Read more... )

usa: history: old west, 1870-1879

Comments 10

sidleypkhermit October 7 2018, 00:34:15 UTC

I would have guessed this was pretty old, given that the general metaphor can be traced at least to Shakespeare (i.e. in my icon :D). But after trying Google Books at some length, I can't turn up "I'll bite" with that meaning earlier than a 1970s slang dictionary. And even "rise to the bait," the British phrase that we probably imported into "take the bait" and eventually to "I'll bite," seems to show up with citations in the 1960s.

It still sounds fine to me, honestly -- there's always been fishing, so there's no reason someone couldn't have said it. IMO it's up to you whether you think it feels period-appropriate aesthetically. (Same goes for "OK," for that matter, which was in use in some way in the 1800s but its provenance has been hotly disputed.)

tinnean October 7 2018, 01:13:35 UTC

I wasn't sure if it sounded too current. The last thing I want to do is pull a reader out of the story. I always worry about "okay" when I'm writing a historical, although I've seen it. Generally, I'd go with "all right," but in this instance, I've got an inadvertent rhyme. :-P

I'll go back and reduce the number of okays, but since I only use "I'll bite" once, I'll see how it strikes my beta and my editor.

Thank you so much!

(PS Love your icon!)

reynardo October 7 2018, 01:31:22 UTC

"Okay" doesn't get popular before the 1920s, "I'll bite" turns up much earlier (as in 1800) but not necessarily as an expression. "OK" shows up much earlier but may be a shortening of something else.

Also, Ngrams are your friend for this. Don't ask me about "The penny dropped", "Looked down his nose at her" and "blowing off steam".

sidleypkhermit October 7 2018, 01:55:50 UTC

Yeah, there seem to be a number of earlier "I'll bite" results through Ngrams but as far as I could see they're all somebody threatening to literally bite someone. *g*

tinnean October 7 2018, 02:51:45 UTC

LOL! Thank you! It looks like I'll definitely need to change this. :-D

tinnean October 7 2018, 02:48:17 UTC

Thank you for the link! I'll make sure to bookmark it.

I can get rid of most of the "okays"--except for the ones that are lifted from conversations in the previous book. I'll have to give more thought to "I'll bite." :-)

thismaz October 7 2018, 05:09:46 UTC

If you are interested in Okay, there is this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK

tinnean October 7 2018, 10:40:17 UTC

Thank you! Another page I've bookmarked. :-)

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tinnean October 7 2018, 10:42:10 UTC

Wow. No clue how that happened, but thanks for letting me know.