I'm not sure if this belongs in the technique forum but I couldn't figure out where to put it...

Does anyone know of a good resource for establishing the date and origin of popular phrases and expressions? Sometimes the OED comes up trumps, but not always and I feel I'm losing far too much valuable time googling these things.

In case it makes any difference, the period I'm working in is the early twentieth century.

Thanks in advance!




<Added>

Should have said, I've got the Oxrford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying & Quotation, but it isn't giving me what I need at all.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/

i've used this website a lot over the years, although it may not be specific enough for you.

Thanks Petal, that's a help - I didn't know that site.

I wanted to know the origin of the phrase "it's going to be a walk in the park." I put in the phrase and " origins of phrase" after it . Google came up with a number of sites and discussions in forums and eventually by cross referencing I think I got the right answer.

Yes, that's exactly what I've been doing so far - sometimes it works wonderfully, but other times it's taken quite a while, and a couple of times I've had to give up. It'd be fine if it were just one phrase, but I've got quite a few I'm looking for and just hoped there might be some wonderful site/reference book/ whatever that would make the job easier (hope springs eternal, y'know...).

Why not post one or two of the phrases on here? Someone might know the answer.