Where does the expression "to beat a dead horse" come from?

[undeterred]

I mean, I wouldn't beat a live horse, would you?

[idgiehkt]

1. I don't think it's good.

probably the same general circumstances the term 'mule-skinner' came from. I think it might refer to horses used to plough and do work like that before the invention and common use of tractors, they were sometimes worked to death.

[graywarrior]

2. From the same guy who was "meeting a man about a horse?"

[flvegan]

3. I asked The Google...

BEAT (OR FLOG) A DEAD HORSE - "Though he supported the measure, British politician and orator John Bright thought the Reform Bill of 1867, which called for more democratic representation, would never be passed by Parliament. Trying to rouse Parliament from its apathy on the issue, he said in a speech, would be like trying to 'flog a dead horse' to make it pull a load. This is the first recorded use of the expression, which is still common for 'trying to revive interest in an apparently hopeless issue.'." From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997)

[undeterred]

4. And we still say it 139 years later

I bet he'd be surprised at that legacy.

[flvegan]

6. He'd probably say we were beating a dead horse with it.

Seems ironic...don't you think?

[idgiehkt]

8. so would all the worked to death horses, probably.

We're remarking on the guy that said it, not the animals that got pushed to give til they dropped...I think this is still pretty common in Amish and Mennonite circles

[Kutjara]

5. The original saying was...

..."to flog a dead horse" (which is how it's still said in the UK). It plays on the double meaning of the word 'flog' in UK English. Flog means 'to beat' but it also means 'to sell.' So 'flogging a dead horse' is a futile action on two counts: one, because beating a dead horse won't make it get up and walk; and, two, because trying to sell a dead horse is a futile act. So, flogging a dead horse is about as pointless as you can get.

[idgiehkt]

7. I find it incredibly depressing.

the whole lexicon of these sayings the true meanings of which we never think about...I only knew about the origin of this one because I read a book on the advent of the tractor and how it changed the landscape of American architecture, and then I read another one on people who still farm using traditional methods and how hard farming is on these draft animals.

Sayings like 'kill two birds with one stone', 'more than one way to skin a cat' and so on and so forth. There is a book out there where a woman went through and compiled them all, it was pretty overwhelming to read.

[Zomby Woof]

9. It's Latin for...

"To post impeachment threads in GD."

[undeterred]

10. ...or Rahm threads

or Kerry comment threads
or who do you want to be president in 2008 threads
or why I'm not voting for Hillary threads....