h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anyone know where this phrase comes from?

Possibly refers to trench warfare. Soldiers being forced to retreat to the 'last ditch' (trench) may be inspired to greater effort, since they have no more trenches to fall back on

It precedes WWI (just). The OED has 'last-ditcher' (one who fights until the last ditch) from 1909.

'Last-ditch' only appears from 1951 (last-ditch stand). 'Last-ditch effort' is from 1971 (in a football report) and 'Last-ditch attempt' from 1973. So the phrase in its current sense appears to be quite modern.

"OED"?

OED = Oxford English Dictionary

The American Civil war demonstrated the use of trenches in warfare. So 1909 is perfectly in concert with the original answer.

Having said that, armies have been digging ditches as temporarty fortifications since antiquity.

The idea of the 'moat' has been terribly romanticised by novelists and filmmakers in the past century or so, but such 'ditches' (whether flooded or not) were indeed a major part of defenses since antiquity.

There might be several concentric 'rings' dug around a castle. And they were actually called ditches. The 'last ditch' would be the innermost ring, closest to the defensive walls.

The 'effort' can reasonably be seen as coming from both defenders and attackers. Grenadiers were often involved in much effort to dig tunnels under the walls and place explosive charges (called 'petards' upon which many were often 'hoist').

Petard Origin:
1590–1600; < MF, equiv. to pet(er) to break wind (deriv. of pet < L pēditum a breaking wind, orig. neut. of ptp. of pēdere to break wind) + -ard -ard


~jwf~

*cue Monty Python reference....*

The American Civil War was in 1861-65, not 1909.



~*~The 'last ditch' would be the innermost ring, closest to the defensive walls.~*~

Ahhh........ That may explain it.....

jwf, you don't actually explain what a petard was. Just to fill in the gaps, it was a kind of metal grenade filled with gunpowder set off by a fuse. Sappers would dig a tunnel and attach the device to a door or drawbridge to set it off. The name 'petar' or 'petard' probably came from the sound of the muffled explosion at the end of a long tunnel.

> The American Civil War was in 1861-65, not 1909.<

I'll double that

Yes indeed, therefore the phrase could easily have been well established by 1909.

Certainly true. The context of the sentence made it seem like you had your dates mixed up though. *shrug*

>>The American Civil War was in 1861-65, not 1909..., therefore the phrase could easily have been well established by 1909.<<

If the show 'Balderdash and Piffle' is anything to go by, isn't it not enough that a phrase may have been 'in use' at a point of recollection, but that it has to have been written down or printed?

(It's been a while since I watched, and I can't recall what the OED's rules are on changing the known etymology.

The rules are that the word must appear in print, or be used on film or audio, in something to which a firm date can be attached. So the following are acceptable: a newspaper or magazine article where the date of the publication is known, a book with the date of publication, a film with a known release date, a TV programme or radio programme with a known broadcast date, any printed matter with an issue date or copyright date.

Yes but my point was that there was trench warfare *before* 1909.

Someone said that it may have originated from trench warfare, ergo WWI. Then the 1909 reference was brought out in essence to refute this... at least that's how I read it.

Blimey it's hard to get one's point across in text talk sometimes.

<>

That's why teenagers like me just grunt

Huh.