Fun trivia… Pulling yourself up from your bootstraps is impossible and the phrase came from an 1800s physics textbook that asked why a person can’t pull themselves up that way.
It somehow got twisted to mean that it should be possible with hard work.
And for the odd duck whom fortune smiles upon, they get to proudly say they pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps while glossing over the once in a century singleton event that carved their path for them to follow.
Fun trivia, sometimes turn of phrases can come about differently, especially when they mean different things. Unless you can tie it together with something better than “somehow got twisted” you really shouldn’t claim that’s the origin.
Fun trivia… Pulling yourself up from your bootstraps is impossible and the phrase came from an 1800s physics textbook that asked why a person can’t pull themselves up that way.
It somehow got twisted to mean that it should be possible with hard work.
And for the odd duck whom fortune smiles upon, they get to proudly say they pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps while glossing over the once in a century singleton event that carved their path for them to follow.
Fun trivia, sometimes turn of phrases can come about differently, especially when they mean different things. Unless you can tie it together with something better than “somehow got twisted” you really shouldn’t claim that’s the origin.
I can assure you that I have better things to do in life than sit at a computer making up origins of common phrases
https://uselessetymology.com/2019/11/07/the-origins-of-the-phrase-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps/