nightowl

Take a look at the etymology of "fiasco", it seems to come from the Italian "fare flasco", "to make a bottle", with apparently somewhat of the sensse of making a colossal goof, and "flasco" comes from the late Latin "flasco" ("flask"). So the question is how far back you want to project the idiom as existing. You could say somehting like "Esse facit flasco" and just tell people it's idiomatic (my Latin is VERY rusty, not sure of tense forms of "facere", if that's even the right form of the verb, or the conjugation of "flasco"--might be "flascum"). Check "fiasco" out at dictionary.com

Thanks a heap, M-J.
r0n0