The times they are a-changin’.
This post seems to be older than 17 years—a long time on the internet. It might be outdated.
I love learning new things, especially things that don’t concern what I’m studying…because I get to learn about that all day. The other day, I learned more about the phrase speak of the devil.” I had called Laura, she answers and says, “Speak of the Devil.” We had a short conversation over that and I learned that the full phrase is, “Speak of the Devil and the Devil shall appear.”
Honestly, that makes a whole lot of sense. It also makes me feel a little bit better when someone says that to me.
Here’s more background:
From www.phrases.org.uk:
0The phrase is old and appears in various Latin and Old English texts from the 16th century. The Italian writer Giovanni Torriano has the first recorded version in contemporary English, in ‘Piazza Universale’, 1666:
“The English say, Talk of the Devil, and he’s presently at your elbow.”