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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Ultimately derived from the quotation attributed to the Duke of Wellington,”The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-so … e-12590464
I’m not sure whether the wife actually said “Eden”, or the journalist misheard.
Using “Eden” instead of “Eton” changes the meaning of the idiom. The Duke’s point was that learning discipline and gamesmanship at Berkshire’s famous school for the privileged was a good preparation for battle. He wasn’t saying life at Eton was like the garden of earthly paradise: quite the reverse.
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Nice spotting, mikewest. I see several other examples of this slip on the web.
There are several Eden Colleges in the world, but they do not seem to be referenced in the phrase “playing fields of Eden.”
The BBC has already corrected the error on the page you cited. For now you can still see the original article at http://www.rocketnews.com/2011/02/disgr … in-prison/
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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