Conference thebay::joyoflex

    When a person worries, often he or she wrinkles her or his brow.
    This was known as knitting one's brow.  This in time became known
    as knotting one's brow.  The expression developed along the lines,
    "I see X has a knot from worry."  This, of course, devolved into
    pointing at an uneasy person and saying, "Knot from worry."  Well,
    if one is retreating _from_ worry, then one's knot ought to go away;
    as a result, the expression became "Knot _to_ worry," which had
    the phonetic equivalence of "Not to worry."  People overhearing
    the phrase and unaware of the circumstances thought it a phrase
    of reassurance.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    And if you believe _that_, have I got a deal for you regarding the
    Brooklyn Bridge... :-)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    You ought to write a book about the origins of words, Steve.  You sound
    at least as plausible as most of the accounts included in the more
    popular books!
    
    --bonnie 

    Re: .0
    
    What about an attempted pithy translation for 'nil desperandum'
    (which means something like [There is] nothing [that should be
    the object of] worrying)?
    
    b

I thought the origin came from Boris Badinoff: "Is not to worry, 
Natasha.  Moose and Squirrel will fall for trap."

					>>>==>PStJTT

    re .4;
    
    Thanks!  I've been going nuts since yesterday trying to remember
    _which_ TV show that line came from.

    "Not to worry" is far older than Bullwinkle. It's an idiom. Over-
    analyzing idioms is seldom productive. Having said that, my guess is
    that it comes from Gaelic speakers. 
    
    	Jon

Re: Bullwinkle

That's a jo -- I say, that's a JOKE, son. (Kids these days don't 
understand nothin' without smiley faces...)

					>>>==>PStJTT

    Somehow I seem to remember that, when the phrase became current
    with my peer group (in the '60s) it was almost _always_ intoned
    with a Russian accent.

    Perhaps if we want an informed answer to this question, we should
    contact a language professor at Whatsamatter U.
    
    -- Mike    

re .7:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                      -< I can do Foghorn Leghorn, too. >-

Re: Bullwinkle

That's a jo -- I say, that's a JOKE, son. (Kids these days don't 
understand nothin' without smiley faces...)

					>>>==>PStJTT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, language trivia fans.  Where did this phrase come from originally?  It's
older than Rocky and his Friends for sure.

Larry

    Re .10:
    
    If you mean ...
    >That's a jo -- I say, that's a JOKE, son.
    
    That's originally from Senator Claghorn, a mythical inhabitant of
    the equally mythical "Allen's Alley," a feature on the old Fred
    Allen radio show.  Fred Allen would pose a question to several people
    who supposedly lived there.  They were:
    
    Senator Claghorn -- a blustery Southern (supposedly U.S.) Senator;
    [name escapes me] - an Irishman with Gaelic humor;
    Titus Moody --  a taciturn New Englander [he didn't have a radio
                    in his house.  His reason, "I got nuttin' to do
                    with furniture that talks."] with pithy observations;
                    and
    Mrs. Nussbaum -- a gentle Jewish lady with a husband (never heard)
                     named Pierre.
    
    If you mean "Not to worry," that's what the base note asked.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    re .7:
    
    Yes, yes, I know it's a joke; I laughed. Until it was taken seriously. 
    
    	Jon

    I always thought "not to worry" was just a shortened form of the
    imperative, "[You are] not to worry," which is a common construction
    in many Slavic and Balkan-area languages. 
    
    I have no evidence either way, just always thought that was where
    it came from. 
    
    --bonnie

Whoever observed that "not to worry" used to always be stated with a Russian
accent hit the crucial hint.

The expression was first heard in a James Bond movie, in which he is captured
by "foreigners" (as usual), and is told sardonically "not to worry" by his
captors.

So the non-grammatically-correctness of the expression is explained by
the unfamiliarity with English by the foreign captor.

/Eric

    Arg! .13 got it!  It is perfectly good english to have an implicit
    "you" in a second person construction, most commonly in an imperitive.
    The doubtful part is omitting the verb "are"! Don't worry!
    
    rmm
    

    re:.10
    
    "It's older than Rocky and His Friends for sure."
    
    I'll say. Warner Brothers' Foghorn Leghorn existed for some
    time before Rocky & Bullwinkle. :-)
    
    --- jerry

    .13 sounds convincing.
    
    maybe a French connection. With many French verbs there is little
    difference between the infinitive and imperative forms in the spelling.
    For example,  aller  -> to go, allez -> go!
    
    Since the final letter is not pronounced there is only the written
    difference. French children frequently confuse the two forms, and
    might continue the confusion on learning another language. My 8
    year old daughter frequently makes similar mistakes in English,
    since French is her better language.

    Re: .17
    
    Ne te derange pas == (literally) not to worry [yourself]
    
    - I think... ('O' level French, il y a neuf ans)
    
    I'll believe it.