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boyyouguysaredumb t1_jaq8q5g wrote

Reply to comment by WaterChi in TIL "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" is an example of an impossible task. The idiom dates at least to 1834, from the Workingman's Advocate: "It is conjectured that Mr. Murphee will now be enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots. by meat-juice

No they just don’t know the origin of the phrase

It’s like how people think trickle down economics was a term Reagan invented. It was a term his opponents branded his stupid plans, it was never the name of the actual policy- it was always just a term to make fun of it.

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