經(jīng)?？梢月牭饺藗兪褂胋rass ring這個(gè)詞，大多出現(xiàn)在touch the brass ring, grab the brass ring 或 reach for the brass ring短語中。這些短語大約出現(xiàn)在20世紀(jì)70年代，時(shí)至今日它們?nèi)员活l繁使用。
從這個(gè)狂歡游戲不難看出brass ring 如何衍生出這個(gè)比喻意。Brass ring在這里用來比喻游戲參與者人人都可能實(shí)現(xiàn)的目標(biāo)，只要他努力伸手去夠并且有好運(yùn)氣。
對brass ring一詞出現(xiàn)的時(shí)間，不同的字典有不同的說法。Merriam-Webste 10th Collegiate詞典說brass ring出現(xiàn)在二十世紀(jì)五十年代，而Christine Ammer's 編撰的The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms則認(rèn)為19世紀(jì)晚期就出現(xiàn)了這個(gè)短語。兩種說法相去甚遠(yuǎn)。
據(jù)目前我們掌握的材料來看，這個(gè)比喻用法在1959年首次出現(xiàn)， "'I guess I never got with it,' he told himself aloud, 'and the only times I saw the brass ring it was going so fast I couldn't grab it'"（《星期六晚報(bào)》），brass ring并沒用引號圈起來，說明它可能是新造的詞。
THE GREAT FRENCH CAROUSEL ORGANS (RCA ). The plaintive melodies and the sounds of fife and drum are transformed into a joyous cascade by the pipes of the mechanical organ. No instrument could be less solemn. It's not so much the sounds of Rossini's "Thieving Magpie Overture" or a swinging "Valencia" we hear as those of children's laughter when the world was young and the brass ring there for the grabbing.
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