text: where does the saying send you to coventry come from? when someone says i'll send you to coventry and they then egnor that person, how did that saying come about? the saying came around in the 1700's alright, but  this is a more accurate view of it.  b'ham was always a bigger district and coventry was always a dump, so when anyone got into trouble with the law they were sent to work in the dump known as "coventry". it then ended up housing thousands or retards and this is the way it still is today