Hi Jan Thats quite a common saying and have used it a lot myself OED says its colloquial & regional but not what region(s) As its topical for today A quote 1853 Dickens Bleak House xxi. 208 'How de do??' 'Middling,' replies Mr. George. Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > My grandfather, from Lincoln, who lived with us in Leicester, used to answer > when asked how he was: "Fair to middling.". Sometimes, maybe because he now > lived in the midlands, he made it: "Fair to midland.". > > Jan

There was a children's book called "the Fair to Middling" - probably out of print now unfortunately where the title had a deliberate double meaning Ros -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nivard Ovington Sent: 07 February 2012 08:30 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LEI] Victorian Letters - the last one Hi Jan Thats quite a common saying and have used it a lot myself OED says its colloquial & regional but not what region(s) As its topical for today A quote 1853 Dickens Bleak House xxi. 208 'How de do??' 'Middling,' replies Mr. George. Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > My grandfather, from Lincoln, who lived with us in Leicester, used to answer > when asked how he was: "Fair to middling.". Sometimes, maybe because he now > lived in the midlands, he made it: "Fair to midland.". > > Jan ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

These days I'm more inclined to say: I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy! :-} David Armstrong Maylands, Western Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: Nivard Ovington To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 4:29 PM Subject: Re: [LEI] Victorian Letters - the last one Hi Jan Thats quite a common saying and have used it a lot myself OED says its colloquial & regional but not what region(s) As its topical for today A quote 1853 Dickens Bleak House xxi. 208 'How de do??' 'Middling,' replies Mr. George. Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > My grandfather, from Lincoln, who lived with us in Leicester, used to answer > when asked how he was: "Fair to middling.". Sometimes, maybe because he now > lived in the midlands, he made it: "Fair to midland.". > > Jan ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

It's colloquial & regional in New Zealand as well. In fact we seem to have picked up many of the various regional expressions. My grand father said that his grandfather used to complain about the unintelligible accents of the other side of the family. He was from Leicestershire, they from Cornwall/Devon. Les Stokes -----Original Message----- From: Nivard Ovington Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 9:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LEI] Victorian Letters - the last one Hi Jan Thats quite a common saying and have used it a lot myself OED says its colloquial & regional but not what region(s) As its topical for today A quote 1853 Dickens Bleak House xxi. 208 'How de do??' 'Middling,' replies Mr. George. Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > My grandfather, from Lincoln, who lived with us in Leicester, used to > answer > when asked how he was: "Fair to middling.". Sometimes, maybe because he > now > lived in the midlands, he made it: "Fair to midland.". > > Jan ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message