词汇 | nine days’ wonder |
词源 | nine days’ wonder; 90-day wonders. Minor marvels, things that cause great sensations for a short time and then pass into limbo, have probably been called nine days’ wonder, or some- thing very similar, since Roman times. Kittens, puppies, and other young animals have their eyes closed for a number of days after birth and then open them and see the light—just as astonished people eventually “open their eyes” and see aston- ishing things in their true perspective. This is probably the rea- soning behind the expression, nine being used because it has always been regarded as a mystical number and might have been thought to be the number of days young animals keep their eyes closed. Robert Burton gave us a proverb that seems to confirm this theory: “A wonder lasts but nine days, and then the puppy’s eyes are open.” In both World Wars and the Korean Conflict, the nickname 90-day wonders, an offshoot of the ear- lier phrase, was given to young, sometimes zealous second lieutenants who were trained for only three months in Officer Candidate School (OCS). |
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