Question for Rocky R

[razmuz]

Can you [please tell us where the term "Flash in the Pan" originated from. Are you sure?

[Cossack]

I'm not Rocky but pretty sure it came from flintlock days as when the priming powder ignited in the pan, after the flint hit the frizzen, but failed to set off the main charge in the barrel.
Now used to signify sudden burst of relatively meaningless or short lived activity

[Rocky Raab]

Yes, that is it, and I'm sure.

There are MANY gun-related aphorisms out there.

Lock, stock and barrel

Going off half-cocked

point-blank

men of such caliber

keep your powder dry

a shot in the dark

set your sights on

hair trigger

misfired

[razmuz]

Thats what I thought for years. It started way before flintlocks. This was the way they tried to get the alcohol content of liquor. They would mix powder with the booze and then time the burning time, thus "flash in the pan."

[Adam Helmer]

razmuz,

Sorry, but "flash in the pan" is a well documented phrase regarding a flintlock that set off the pan powder, but not the main charge; everyone in 18th and 19th Century America understood the meaning. On page 551 of Webster's New World Dictionary it says, ""flash in the pan"-an ineffectual flash of the priming in the pan of a flintlock musket, which fails to explode the charge.

You may know of some process for distilling alcohol that Webster did not know about, BUT the more common meaning applied to a flintlock, usually in times of greatest need.

Adam

[muledeer]

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/flash-in-the-pan.html
muldeer

[Adam Helmer]

muledeer,

By Jove, I think ye nailed it, hey wot? Your input was more colorful and informative than my reference to a dictionary- many thanks, my friend.

Adam

[muledeer]

Your welcome;)
muledeer

[Rocky Raab]

Yuppers, darn good link.