<snip>
I suspect it is bogus: a misunderstanding of 'beggar's velvet' = corduroy et
al, which does go back quite far. [CW]
Neat, Chris! Do you have any cites for that? [RH]
<snip>
I can get you to 1672 in a general sort of way with Thomas Jordan's *London
Triumphant*:
'My father store of velvet wore, My grandsire beggars' velvet!'
Or there's the London Gazette in 1711:
'A green Beggars Velvet Frock with Metal Buttons'
(Both of these are in the OED; disposition or absence of the apostrophe
complicates standard searches.)
Or there's this corduroy metaphor in a Note to *The Dunciad*:
'These he dressed in a sort of beggar's velvet, or a happy mixture of the
thick fustian and thin prosaic.'
CW
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That which is the future here, when read from right to left, has
already happened. (Giorgio Manganelli)
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