I'm not talking to you...

Talking about Lady Godiva the other day brought to mind the saying about being "sent to Coventry" which means to be ostracised, to have your very existence ignored. A common expression here in the UK, but its origins are a bit of a mystery. Best guess is that it is a reference to the Civil War when Royalist soldiers captured here in the Midlands would be sent to Coventry and imprisoned there.  And as Coventry was a staunchly Parliamentarian city chances are that they would have been treated with disdain and contempt.  We know the expression has been used in that way since at least the mid-18th century, but it gained most currency in the 1950s and 60s when workers who refused to come out on strike would be treated this way.