"Stay The Course"
"Stay the course" has become one of the most notorious phrases of the Bush presidency. And while the president is busily putting some distance between himself and that phrase, I thought it might be interesting to find out just where it came from. He wasn't the first president to use it. He almost certainly won't be the last.
A website offered some pearls of wisdom, quoting William Safire:
But another resourcewent back even further.
STAY THE COURSE - "Persist in an action or policy; remain with a plan despite criticism or setbacks. This phrase, perhaps based on a sailing metaphor of keeping an unchanged course in navigation, was popularized during the 1980 Presidential campaign.Republicans have helped to popularize the expression. During 1982, according to the Washington Post, Ronald Reagan 'visited 14 states in 10 days of campaigning since Labor Day, carrying his 'stay the course' message." From "Safire's New Political Dictionary" by William Safire (Random House, New York, 1993).
"To stay the course" is often thought to be a nautical metaphor, and one can easily imagine a stalwart captain instructing a wavering helmsman to "Stay the course!" in the face of a stormy sea.So there you have it. Not that it matters. It seems we won't be hearing it much in the near future.But the first use of the phrase in print, in 1885, comes from another sort of "course," the racetrack. "To stay the course" in this sense referred to the ability of a horse to endure the race and reach the finish line, preferably in a winning position. By 1916, however, the phrase had been adopted by politicians, and we've been urged to "stay the course" ever since.