英语词汇hold the fort的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

hold the fort. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman is said to have invented this expression in 1864, when he wired the words to General Corse. Since the Civil War the words have not been used literally and have come to mean to take charge of any post or position, giving the job, temporary as it may be, your best efforts. It is sometimes heard as hold down the fort. General Sherman also suggested the phrase 40 acres and a mule when, in a field order of 1865, he authorized that “Every family shall have a plot of not more than forty acres of tillable ground.” Southern blacks took this to mean that all shareholders’ planta- tions would at the end of the war be divided up into 40-acre plots that would be distributed to their slaves along with a mule to work them. The mule in the phrase was probably suggested by the old expression three acres and a cow, a common promise of British politicians.

词汇	hold the fort
词源	hold the fort. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman is said to have invented this expression in 1864, when he wired the words to General Corse. Since the Civil War the words have not been used literally and have come to mean to take charge of any post or position, giving the job, temporary as it may be, your best efforts. It is sometimes heard as hold down the fort. General Sherman also suggested the phrase 40 acres and a mule when, in a field order of 1865, he authorized that “Every family shall have a plot of not more than forty acres of tillable ground.” Southern blacks took this to mean that all shareholders’ planta- tions would at the end of the war be divided up into 40-acre plots that would be distributed to their slaves along with a mule to work them. The mule in the phrase was probably suggested by the old expression three acres and a cow, a common promise of British politicians.
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