![]() ![]() ![]() The author used it later, however, and after this it appeared more and more in literature, such as in works by Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Dickens, and others, having since entered into common usage. This most probably was not the first use of the idiom, it’s just the first recorded use of it we know of, which means it is the only reliable way we have of dating the expression. In case you are having trouble parsing that, I’ll translate: Realize that the Countess’s dislike did not go any farther at first than just showing the cold shoulder - at least that is all that was seen to occur. Ye may mind that the Countess’s dislike didna gang farther at first than just showing o’ the cauld shouther - at least it wana seen farther. ![]() In it, the character Elspeth Cheyne talks about the behavior of his mother to Lord William, saying: The first recorded use of the expression was in literature was in Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Antiquary from 1816. Giving someone the cold shoulder did not originally, in all probability, have anything to do with body language. Well, you will often find that searching for clues in the actual words an idiom uses will lead you astray. If you look for lexical clues, you might assume that it has something to do with your own shoulder, and something you would do with your shoulder, as body language, toward another person, as in looking over your shoulder with a disdainful glance, or keeping a shoulder between you and a person you do not like, so that you are treating them “coldly” and thus giving them a “cold shoulder.” ![]()
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