Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 10:43:47 +1608

From: "Donald M. Lance" engdl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU

Subject: Re: wing and a prayer



"live on a

prayer and a wing". now, i've always heard of this as "live on a

wing and a prayer."



does

anyone know anything about this idiom and its origins? a nice concise

definition would help me too, as i don't know how good my own

estimation is. how is: "to live with little more than hope to

sustain oneself"?



"Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer" was the title of a World War II song,

which I think Bing Crosby sang. That may also have been the title of the

movie in which he sang the song. (I'm going on memory here, and I often

"remember" things that didn't actually happen that way.) Of course the

pilot makes a safe but exciting crash landing on a runway. Your definition

is close to the original application -- if it originated in WW2. It could

be older than WW2, from the old barnstorming days in early aviation.