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Wild and Woolly


The expression wild and woolly showed up in print in the Missouri newspaper The Sedalia Daily Democrat, December 1875:
"W. A. Palmer, the South Bend, Indiana, murderer and paramour of Dolly Tripp, was for several years resident of Clinton. Bill always was one of the 'wild and woolly' kind and would associate with the demimonde." (source) The exact origin of the expression isn't known. 












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