so quiet 'you could hear a pin drop'....

[janzman]

....This idiom has been used throughout the Olympics by the commentators just before races start or during performances like dressage or gymnastics.I can't find a definitive answer to the origins of this saying,does anyone know?

[dotty.]

The earliest known instance of the phrase, though not quite in the form we recognize, dates from 1775: "Had a pin fallen, I suppose we should have taken it at least for a thunder-clap". The next example cited by the OED is from 1814, and it gives a better idea of the kind of pin in question: "It was so still you might have heard a pin drop on the pavement".

cheers google......

[netibiza]

From Adam Parker:

A railway museum's web page contended that the phrase so quiet you could hear a pin drop arose from the railway. They say that its origin was a compliment to an engineer who could back his engine and couple it with a car so quietly that you could hear the pin slid into place. Being a rail fan myself, I would love for this to be true, but it seems to be just too general to have originated from this specific instance. Do you have any other suggestions as to the "official" origin?

We do indeed and we are sad to report that it has nothing to do with trains. It refers to the same kind of pin that one used to see in the Sprint ads here in the US - a straight pin with a head at one end. The earliest known instance of the phrase, though not quite in the form we recognize, dates from 1775: "Had a pin fallen, I suppose we should have taken it at least for a thunder-clap". The next example cited by the OED is from 1814, and it gives a better idea of the kind of pin in question: "It was so still you might have heard a pin drop on the pavement".