Parting Shot / Parthian Shot
The phrase "parting shot" has its origins from the Parthian shot. The first record of the phrase "parting shot" was by John McCleod, surgeon on board His Majesty's ship Alceste contained in "A narrative of a Voyage to the Yellow Sea" (1818). The two phrases have rather similar phonetic soundings but are actually separately derived at different times. Although the Parthian archers of old have been famous for their shooting, the term "parthian shot" was recorded for the first time in 1832 by Captain Mundy, ADC to Lord Combermere on a hunting trip in India.
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Famous quotes containing the words parting and/or shot:
“I can hear, underground, that sucking and sobbing,
In my veins, in my bones I feel it,—
The small waters seeping upward,
The tight grains parting at last.”
—Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)
“Don’t sell the bearskin until you have shot the bear.”
—Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.