[Origins?] I was robbed blind, he'd rob ya blind!

r3nu4l · 03-09-2010 11:32am #1

[Aside/Background]There is some ambiguity over the origin of the phrase Daylight Robbery. Some say that it originated with the Window Tax, but it has been said (by the OED) that it was actually only first recorded in 1915 in the play Hobson's Choice.

However, Hobson's Choice the play refers to Hobson's coach service of Cambridge (particularly the University) where the window tax badly affected the colleges who bricked up loads of windows during the time of the Window Tax so it's likely that 'Daylight Robbery' was in use in Cambridge for a long, long time before it appeared in the play Hobson's choice[Aside/Background]

So my question refers to the phrase 'I was robbed blind' and similar. Could this phrase have originated from the phrase Daylight Robbery? After all, once you've been robbed of daylight, you are blind. Or did it originate in a much more mundane way?

Just a thought? Anyone got any answers for me?

Donkey Oaty · 04-10-2010 10:32am

The Deseret News in Salt Lake City used to have a language column written by Merriam Webster dictionary editors, and gave the following answer. Rather dull, I'm afraid, but it seems accurate enough. I presume they got paid by the word.

Question: Could you please inform me of the origin of the expression "to rob somebody blind"? No matter what form this phrase comes in, it has never made sense. Robbing or stealing from a person does not make him go blind.

Answer: The simple explanation for the meaning of "blind" in this expression is that it acts as an intensive, adding emphasis to "rob." In "They robbed him blind," "blind" does not complete the action of the verb, the way it does in "He was struck blind." In this latter sentence, "blind" is acting as an objective complement, as does "blue," for example, in "I painted the room blue." Only verbs denoting "make" or "consider" take an objective complement. Clearly, as you say, robbing does not make a person go blind.

The expression "to rob somebody blind" hasn't been around, at least in print, much more than 40 years. A similar expression, "to steal somebody blind," although slightly less common now, has possibly been around a little longer.

The sense of "blind" meaning "unable or unwilling to discern or judge," synonymous with "oblivious" or "unaware," is at least partly responsible for these "blind" expressions. An earlier idiom, "to get on one's blind side," meaning "to take advantage of someone," may have also influenced their creation. "Rob blind" and similar expressions usually connote the involvement of underhandedness and deception, with an implication that the person who was robbed was unaware of the deception until it was too late.

Nevertheless, as we stated above, "blind" in "rob blind" is used largely for emphasis. ("Blind" has an early history of use to denote "to an excessive degree.") Statements like "He might have had a gun, but I couldn't let him rob me blind" are seen occasionally, though they are relatively rare. We're much more likely to speak of someone being "robbed blind" by a con artist than by a gun-toting criminal.

(Deseret News, 17 August 1997).

r3nu4l · 04-10-2010 11:23am

Very interesting to know! Although I agree it does look like the writer was either paid by the word or was simply trying to fill space

[Origins?] I was robbed blind, he'd rob ya blind!

Comments