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Mon 29 Oct, 2007 11:20 pm
A couple of encyclopedias attribute this term referring to Ottoman Turkey to Czar Nicholas I (1796-1855, I think) but I have seen a reference to its use by the American diplomat and Senator from New York, Rufus King, in roughly the same period, King being older than Nicholas.
The question is did Nicholas coin the phrase and King quote it without attribution? Or did it happen the other way round?
Nowadays, it is applied to many countries at various low points in the European pecking order - Spain for one, and Portugal, but others as well.
Does anyone know who said it first?
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