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ZombieDarwin 8 year s ago
#21 FFS! The needle being referenced to is not a knitting needle, as pictured! The needle is the name of the very small door in the large gate that controls access to a town or castle. When the gate was closed, the only way in or out of the town was through this very small gate, just barely big enough for an adult male to squeeze through. At the time, camels would enter the town laden down with goods, doubling or even tripling their width. Thus, the typical camel would be unable to go through the needle unladen, and absolutely impossible for a fully laden camel to do so.
       
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Funny 4 year s ago
#7 Wrong. The phrase predates the First World War by around a hundred years.
       
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yahooshoot

Fly by the seat of your pants

Improvise without a clear forward plan.

The phrase was popularized by the exploits of pilot Douglas Corrigan and his 29-hour flight from Brooklyn to Dublin in 1938. Apparently he has supposed to going to California (!?) but ‘diverted’ to Dublin instead.

The phrase itself had been used in aviation before to describe somebody who goes aloft without radio or instruments.

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