Talk:no love lost

Etymology

I have long found this phrase puzzling. I mean, I know exactly what it means; I just can't figure out why it means that. It feels like it must be a fragment of some longer figure of speech, like, "Were he to die tomorrow there would be no love lost between us", implying that there is no love now, so none would be lost by his demise. But this is mere speculation and I wonder if anybody has done actual research. Or can someone suggest some logic that will make the phrase compositional for me, rather than just one of those opaque idioms? ACW (talk) 20:31, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

My impression is that it means "neither is wasting love on the other"- it's a form of ironic understatement. I think the the main reason it exists, though, is because it alliterates. Chuck Entz (talk) 21:50, 2 September 2023 (UTC)