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Feb 21, 2011 · There is no definitive history on the origin of the phrase, though there is plenty of speculation. The term, which is universally recognized as words that concede defeat (i.e., "I give up"), was ...
Nov 28, 1998 · This call by one child for another to submit or cry for mercy — which appears variously as say uncle!, cry uncle! or holler uncle! — is first recorded in print in the US early in the twentieth century. The Oxford English Dictionary ’s first example is from 1918, but I’ve found an instance in an advertisement in the Modesto News of ...
Oct 5, 2016 · Meanwhile, in 1979 linguist Celia M. Millward came up with a more scholarly (but still unproven) explanation for the expression: Most American schoolboys are (perhaps unhappily) familiar with the expression cry uncle or holler uncle, meaning “give up in a fight, ask for mercy.”. Uncle in this expression is surely a folk etymology, and the ...
Roman children, when beset by a bully, would be forced to say “Patrue, mi Patruissimo,” or “Uncle, my best Uncle,” in order to surrender and be freed. As to precisely “why” bullies force their victims to “cry uncle,” opinions vary. It may be that the ritual is simply a way of making the victim call out for help from a grownup ...
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Jan 25, 2001 · It seems that while "crying uncle" is today regarded as an Americanism, its origins go all the way back to the Roman Empire. Roman children, when beset by a bully, would be forced to say "Patrue, mi Patruissimo," or "Uncle, my best Uncle," in order to surrender and be freed. As to precisely "why" bullies force their victims to "cry uncle ...
Apr 7, 1985 · The phrase is becoming the rallying cry of vigilantism, thanks to the Dirty Harry association and the subsequent episode in the New York subway when a passenger shot four youths he says he felt ...
Unraveling the Mystery: What Does 'Cry Uncle' Mean? • Discover the fascinating origins and meaning of the phrase 'Cry Uncle' in this captivating video. Learn...
