Hector Hugh Munro, better known by his pen-name Saki, was the author of The Open Window. Saki was born in present-day Myanmar in 1870, and in his early childhood he was sent to live with family in England. He intended to follow in his father's footsteps and become a police officer in Burma, but this was not to be. When he contracted malaria, he was too ill to work and was sent back to England. He began his writing career as a journalist and published his first book in 1900. He spent some time traveling and writing as a foreign affairs correspondent but settled in London in 1908. From here, he penned a number of witty short stories, including The Open Window. Saki was a gay man but had to keep his romantic life very private because, at the time, homosexual relationships were illegal in England. He served in the First World War, and was killed by a German sniper on the 14th of November, 1916.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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