HIT: Needle in a haystack

[Chris Finer <cfiner@NEWFOUND.K12.NH.US>]

>Subject: REF: Needle in a haystack
<snip>
>Can anyone tell me the origins of this phrase?=A0 The teacher requesting th=
is
information and I have done separate Internet searches without success.=A0

>Thanks,
>Kristi Henkels
<snip>

" 'Needle in a haystack' is a lot older than Shakespeare and it was
originally 'a needle in a bottle of hay' -- 'bottle' being an early form of
'bundle.'  The expression has been popular through the centuries because it
gives a clear and precise picture of an almost impossible task.  For the
record, the first example of this idea in print was in the works of St.
Thomal More in 1532:  'To seek out oneline in his bookes (sic) would be to
go look [for] a needle in a meadlow.'   (Morris, William and Mary Morris.
_Morris dictionary of word and phrase origins, 2nd ed.  New York:  Harper
and Row.  1988.)"

Chris Finer, LMG
Library Media Program
Newfound Regional High School
Bristol, NH

cfiner@newfound.k12.nh.us

There's no use going to school
unless your final destination is
the library.
                   --after Ray Bradbury

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