not on your nelly

[fatso]

what is the origion of this?

[Muffet]

Chambers says :
quote - not on any account --said to be from "not on your Nellie Duff", rhyming with 'puff', meaning 'life'.

[Quizmonster]

Click here and scroll down to the paragraph that opens "But the name..." for the full story.

[Muffet]

We meet again.
Thanks for the info. Amazing what's to be found.
I also liked this tongue-in-cheek one
It is a trunkated expression that meant "not likely" because it was based on the traditional song "Nelly the Elephant" and the full phrase was an expression about being about as likely as riding into town on somebody else's elephant.