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Selling, carrying, bringing, or taking coal(s) to Newcastle is an idiom of British origin describing a foolhardy or pointless action.〔("Newcastle upon Tyne" ), ''Encyclopædia Britannica''〕 It refers to the fact that historically, the economy of Newcastle upon Tyne in north-eastern England was heavily dependent on the distribution and sale of coal—by the time of the first known recording of the phrase in 1538,〔("Early Coal Mining 1100- 1500" ), ''The Northern Echo's History Pages''〕〔("Newcastle timeline" ), Newcastle University〕 15,000 tonnes of coal were being exported annually from the area〔("Early Coal Mining" ), Terry McKinney, Pitwork.net〕—and therefore any attempt to sell coal to Newcastle would be doomed to failure because of the economic principle of supply and demand.〔 The phrase "To carry Coals to Newcastle" is first documented in North America in 1679 in William Fitzhugh's letters ("But relating farther to you would be carrying Coals to new Castle")〔Bartlett Jere Whiting Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases 1977 - Page 76 "To carry Coals to Newcastle 1679 Fitzhugh Letters 67: But relating farther to you would be carrying Coals to new Castle. 1768 Habersham Letters 68: () asked, if I wanted to carry Coals"〕 and first appears in a printed title in ''Labour in vain: or Coals to Newcastle: A sermon to the people of Queen-Hith, 1709''. Timothy Dexter, an American entrepreneur, succeeded in defying the idiom in the eighteenth century. Renowned for his eccentricity and widely regarded as a buffoon, he was persuaded to sail a shipment of coal to Newcastle by rival merchants plotting to ruin him. However, he instead got a large profit after his cargo arrived during a miners' strike which had crippled local production. More prosaically, the American National Coal Association asserted that the United States profitably sold coal to Newcastle in the early 1990s,〔("U.S. Beats The Price Of Coal In Newcastle" ), William Flannery, ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', May 10, 1990〕 and 70,000 tonnes of low-sulphur coal was imported by Alcan from Russia in 2004 for their local aluminium smelting plant. However, this was when Newcastle's traditional coal industry had stagnated so much by the end of the twentieth century that the last exports from the area were six years before Alcan's venture.〔("Taking coals to Newcastle - it finally happens" ), ''The Northern Echo'', August 5, 2004〕 Although the coal industry of Newcastle has declined in its relative importance to the city since its historic heyday, the expression can still be used today with a degree of literal accuracy, since the harbour of Newcastle in Australia (named for Newcastle in the UK after abundant coal deposits were discovered there and exploited by early European settlers) has succeeded its UK namesake by becoming the largest exporter of coal in the modern world. With the increasing onset of globalization, parallels in other industries are being found, and the idiom is now frequently used by the media when reporting business ventures whose success may initially appear just as unlikely. It has been referred to in coverage of the export to India of Saudi Arabian saffron and chicken tikka masala from the United Kingdom,〔("The Next Asian Journey: Shadows of Old Araby" ), ''TIME'', vol.158, no.7/8, August 20, 2001〕〔("Chicken tikka masala: Spice and easy does it" ), ''BBC News'', April 20, 2001〕 the sale of Scottish pizzas to Italy,〔("Selling coals to Newcastle? How about pizzas to Italy? Cosmo Pasta Co. to sell gluten-free pizzas in Italy" ), ''Nation's Restaurant News'', July 7, 2003〕 the flowing of champagne and cheese from Britain to the French,〔"Lovely firm beats French at their own game", ''The Journal'', January 27, 2006〕〔("French Kiss-Off" ), ''Daily Mirror'', May 3, 2007〕 and the production of manga versions of William Shakespeare from Cambridge for Japan.〔"Putting the art in the wherefore art", ''Cambridge Evening News'', May 2, 2007〕 Even though its original geographic origin may have been displaced, this cliché continues to be used. ==See also== *Owls to Athens *Ice to Eskimos 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Coals to Newcastle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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