On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Deepa Mohan <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 9:07 PM, J Alfred Prufrock < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Exactly what aspect of a button is cute? Enlightenment, anybody? >> > > This is the best I got: > > http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/41/messages/652.html > > The reference *may* be to the bud in the buttonhole of a coat, which might > have got shortened to button...like the "voice of the turtle dove" has been > shortened to "voice of the turtle" (in "and the voice of the turtle is heard > in the land." > >
