where does the phrase cloak and dagger come from
Cloak and dagger The phrase has two possible origins. The first, dating from the early 19th century, is a translation from the French de cape et d'épée and Spanish de capa y espada (literally "of cloak and sword"). These phrases referred to a genre of swashbuckler drama in which the main characters literally wore these items. In 1840, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "In the afternoon read La Dama Duende of Calderón – a very good comedy of 'cloak and sword'." Charles Dickens subsequently used the phrase "cloak and dagger" in his work Barnaby Rudge a year later as a sarcastic reference to this style of drama.[1] The imagery of these two items became associated with the archetypal spy or assassin: the cloak, worn to hide one's identity or remain hidden from view, and the dagger, a concealable and silent weapon.
Yankee Doodle The term Doodle first appeared in English in the early seventeenth century[7] and is thought to be derived from the Low German (a language close to Dutch) dudel, meaning "playing music badly" or Dödel, meaning "fool" or "simpleton". The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became contemporary slang for foppishness.[8] Dandies were men who placed particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisure hobbies. A self-made "Dandy" was a British middle-class man from the late 18th to early 19th century who impersonated an aristocratic lifestyle. They notably wore silk strip cloth, stuck feathers in their hats, and bore two fob watch accessories simultaneously (two pocket watches with chains)—"one to tell what time it was and the other to tell what time it was not".[9] This era was the height of "dandyism" in London, when men wore striped silks upon their return from the Grand Tour[citation needed], along with a feather in the hat.