[djur]

Even without the historical evidence, the slogan seems an unlikely coinage without the existing idiom (surely "when it rains, Morton pours" would be more likely), and I don't know how you'd get from the marketing slogan to an idiom about misfortune.

It's a shame. Stories like this are fascinating when they turn out to be true. Like how "bucket list" entered the American vernacular so quickly and thoroughly that there are many people who believe the movie was named after a preexisting common phrase.

[PopAlongKid]

> a preexisting common phrase

You mean like, "kick the bucket"?

[djur]

No, I mean "bucket list". A lot of people think that it was part of the vernacular before the movie came out, but it wasn't.

[sweetbacon]

re: "bucket list" well I've learned something interesting today. I was solidly in the latter camp.

[smegsicle]

it certainly seemed like the culture was ready for a catchy name for the concept, and even if it indeed hadn't been independently coined previously, people were ready to accept it

nowadays though we've got zuckerberg pretending like he invented the term 'metaverse'