If judged by our verbal expressions, we are obsessed with the impossible. Take, for instance, the saying "that went down like a lead balloon." The phrase originated in a Mom 'n Pop comic strip written by Loren Taylor in 1924 in which Pop's stock investment "was about to go up as fast as a lead balloon." It entered the popular lexicon after World War II and was used to describe anything destined to fail. The rock band Led Zeppelin turned the expression into an ironic name. After all, lead balloons can't fly, right?
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