Who invented say Uncle?
Who invented say Uncle? — is first recorded in print in the US early in the twentieth century. The Oxford English Dictionary's first example is from 1918, but I've found an instance in an advertisement in the Modesto News of California, dated 1912: “This Time it is 'Martie' Graves and Don Johns who made them say 'Uncle. What is the origin of the phrase Uncle? It seems that while "crying uncle" is today regarded as an Americanism, its origins go all the way back to the Roman Empire. Roman children, when beset by a bully, would be forced to say...