Where did the saying "Daft as a brush" come from?

As the source of the expression isn't obvious, various suggestions have been put forward as to what form of brush is being referred to; for instance:

- The phrase originated as 'as soft as a brush' and the brush is the tail of a fox.

- The brushes in the expression are the boys that were employed in the 18th/19th centuries to climb inside chimneys to sweep them.


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