year dot
year dot
Meaning
- A long time back.
- It refers to an incident that happened so long ago that it was not possible to keep a track of when it actually was.
- An informal way of saying as long back as one can remember.
Example Sentences
- I have been living in this house since the year dot and know everyone in the vicinity by their first names.
- My mom makes this cheesecake since the year dot and I am yet to taste anything that is better.
- This lawyer is set up in the uptown area since the year dot because his business is much better there with influential clients walking in all the time.
- His uncle is in the deciding committee since the year dot, of course he got in without any issues.
- We’ve been friends since the year dot.
Origin
This is a modern day phrase which came up in England in the 1900’s. It is most popular within the Great Britain region but is not used as much in the rest of the world. Henry Murray used it in his literary work in the year 1897 in ‘Lands of the slave and the free: or, Cuba, The United States, and Canada’.
Share your opinions2 Opinions
I was always taught it was in reference to the tunes if magna carta. From memory it was a year early in the 1100’s. In that if land was considered common in that year, it then enshrined in perpetuity to remain that day. The implication it has taken in today’s form “it’s always been that way” .
‒ Johnny February 7, 2024
I would have thought that the expression ‘The year dot’ might be referring to year Zero, which in Arabic script is a dot (.) or cipher in Arabic.
‒ Roger Balchin January 10, 2021