There’s a lovely piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education by the linguist Geoffrey Pullum, on the strange phrase “‘Twas ever thus”. It survives in the language as an idiom, even though the grammar used in it is completely archaic. You can’t, as Pullum points out, use “ever” in affirmative clauses: we’d normally say “always” […]

via News » Language http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100234455/come-hell-or-high-water-dick-swiveller-as-it-were/