‘Cutting corners’: A horsey tale

Q: Where or when did the phrase “cutting corners” show up? A: When the usage first appeared in writing in the early 19th century, it had to do with riders and drivers who made their horses take corners and bends in the road too sharply. And as far as we know, it was first used in the United States. The earliest example we’ve found is in a letter to the editor printed in a Baltimore monthly, the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, August 1831. Here the correspondent, signing himself “Tandem” (a carriage term), brags about the excellence of Americans in “riding and driving”: “We have young gentlemen in Baltimore, of taste and fortune, who can handle the ribbands [reins] as well, and cut a corner as close, as any whip [coachman] in old England.” However, we’ve also found the notion of cutting a corner used in boating (1840s) and in fox hunting (1850s). Here’s a boating example: “Our present accident was in consequence of the boatmen endeavouring to cut a corner off, and to get…