Just Try That With Your Bootstraps
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/03/07/just-try-that-with-your-bootstraps/ [www.chronicle.com]
2017-03-08 20:07
But the fact that pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps is, in reality, impossible, is too telling a part of this phrase’s origins to ignore.
Context for first citation:
Mr. Murphee was being critiqued for his claim to have invented a perpetual-motion machine.