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Phrase of the day 2/8

5 years ago

Nose out of joint

This phrase has been around a long time. A person whose nose is out of joint is one who is vexed because he has been supplanted in another’s affections. The earliest version of the saying that has been found goes back to 1895, when, up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the expression was “having your nose broke.” The explanation runs: “The youngest child of a family is said to have its nose broke if another is born and it is therefore no longer ‘the baby.’” I suppose that having your nose out of joint and having it “broke” come to pretty much the same thing.

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