gethenp asked this question on 5/4/2000:

where did the term "gone missing" originate/

Prolixity gave this response on 5/8/2000:

"Gone missing" is a British idiom like "would have done" and "any road" which in American English is "any way."

Authors such as Barbara Pym and Agatha Christie (Agatha Miller, Dame Christie) use these conventions, and others to indicate social class. Christie especially love to put words signifying social class in working-class and rural mouths.

The Revised English Bible (REB) now has "gone missing" in its text (Zechariah 11:15) The idiom appears to be more common now rather than historically, probably indicating that idiom is fairly young rather than older. Shakespeare never used the phrase (I'm relatively certain I would have remembered it), so I'm fairly confident that it's a newer idiom.

Hope this helps a little.

Cheers,

Brian

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