the U.S. phrase ‘don’t spit: remember the Johnstown flood’
1908—jocular cautionary advice in theatres, saloons, hotels, etc.—refers to the flooding of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889
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the phrase ‘(not) to go gentle into that good night’
USA, 1952—meaning: (not) to give up or acquiesce, especially to death, without a struggle—origin: used as the title of, and in, a poem by Dylan Thomas
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