Learn English – Where does the idiom “Queen Anne is dead!” come from

idioms

Looking through the dictionary, I chanced upon an idiom which attracted my attention: "Queen Anne is dead!"

The dictionary says that it means something about "The thing you've just said is well-known, you won't interest anyone with it".

I can't stop wondering, where does that phrase come from?

Best Answer

I haven't heard the expression myself but a quick Google search led me to this answer, I can't really tell how reliable is the source: Allexperts

The relevant part from the answer would be:

the death of Queen Anne was officially hushed up for a while [...] News had leaked out, so when at last there was an official announcement of the Queen's death, the crowd chanted in derision "Queen Anne is dead - didn't you know?" and to this day "And Queen Anne is dead" is a standard rejoinder to somebody who bears stale news or states the obvious.

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