I've heard this argument, but I've not heard any evidence that anyone ever did say that. Probably they did at some point, but to me it seems a more likely reason for the change that people simply memorise the meaning of the phrase as a whole, and then lazily chop off syllables apparently superfluous to recognising the phrase.
I agree, it's back in the origin of the phrase (and of the variant). Both are now pretty much idioms by now though; their compositional meanings are really secondary.
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jack
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Date: 2008-08-14 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 03:33 pm (UTC)