Die Hard
I have an etymology question:
The phrase “Die hard” as in “He’s a die hard fan of the _______.” From where does the phrase come? “Old habits die hard”?
The confusion rises because you could interpret it two ways. One is that to die hard means that it dies (as in, death) with difficulty, so it resists dying.
The other could refer to die cast, which is a way of forging metal.
So, the phrase “Old habits die hard” could mean that they “die with difficulty,” or that they are “forged tough.” Both of them in this case would make sense. Actually, they’d also make sense in the fan way too—but does “die hard fan” in the death sense mean that the fan part of them resists death (which would make them no longer a fan, just apathetic), or the fan, the actual person, resists death (which really has nothing to do with their fandom)? There’s some ambiguity there.
Can anyone with access to the OED help me out?
1 week ago • 0 notes
Oddly enough, Phil found a Phillies fan just as devoted as he, and they both celebrated.
2 weeks ago • 0 notes
Phil, annoyed at the Phillies game. We found a great bar in Chicago called O’Leary’s Public House.
2 weeks ago • 0 notes
