Ohhhh now that's interesting.

Yup there ya go: Thanks~!!
There as a lyric I'd heard and never recalled the title of the tune and the reference to shanks' pony stymied me.


Not a soul is around
As I put more ground
Between me and you
And the whole town's asleep
Or maybe they're deep in the old "voulez vous"
So I'm walking the long miles home
And I don't mind losing you
Got the moon there for company each step of the way
And the rhythm in my shoes keep the blues all away
When you ride Shanks's Pony you don't have to pay
Walking the long miles home

From Richard Thompson

Compressed indeed. They have done worse. Look at the plethora of words and place names that the Brits over the years have bastardized into things stranger than they were originally.

Interesting point Mark but maybe we're putting the cart (or mower) before the horse? I can see the connection but Alexander Shank was a Scot and the Scottish version of the phrase is Shanks' Mare.

www.phrases.org.uk/meanings...mare.html lists the earliest use in a poem by Robert Fergusson from 1774. His variation was "shanks-naig" (nag). But the article also lists the Shanks Pony Mower. Interestingly though the first recorded use in America was shortly after the foundation of Shank's company so maybe there was a more direct link if it was a phrase that had fallen out of use but later been rediscovered.