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jim_1

Phrase of the day 2/9

jim_1 (Zone 5B)
3 years ago

One foot in the grave

The origin of this phrase, meaning “hovering on the brink of death,” is generally attributed to the emperor Julian, who said that he would “learn something even if he had one foot in the grave.” The Greeks, as is so often the case, had a very similar expression – “with one foot in the Charon’s ferryboat,” referring to the means of transportation across the river Styx to the Elysian Fields.

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