::::::You have given no systematic approach for the detection of conservative words, it is all very fuzzy (but that's no problem, because "fuzzy math" is a conservative word, other than "chaos theory").
::::::It is very difficult to take this seemingly random list of words serious, and the statistics behind it are even shadier (see e.g., [[#Conservative Words hypothesis is errant]]. Could you please come up with a working definition for the term "conservative word"? --[[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 15:20, 11 May 2013 (EDT)
==Silver Lining==
:Actually the first mention of clouds having silver linings is in ''"Comus"'', a [[Masque]] by [[John Milton]], first performed in 1632. A young lady, lost and alone in a forest with night approaching is encouraged by the phenomenon:
:''Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud''
[[Dickens]] played on the allusion in ''"Bleak House"'' in 1852 and the 1871 reference was, I assume, by Samuel Smiles. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 03:47, 27 June 2013 (EDT)
:That's fascinating. Perhaps Dickens (1852) should be created for first popularizing the figurative meaning?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 09:30, 27 June 2013 (EDT)
::Morning all...Dickens wrote: ''"I turn my silver lining outward like Milton's cloud."'' I believe though that by the mid 19th century the phrase "''Every cloud has a silver lining"'' had become recognised as a proverb.
And while we're sorta on Milton, try ''pandemonium'' and ''trip the light fantastic''. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 17:05, 27 June 2013 (EDT)