OT: Etymology of 'No love lost'

[slidey]

1. There's no love lost between Wile E. Coyote, and the Roadrunner.
2. There's no love lost between Lance, and Travis Tygart.
You get the point don't you?

Unfortunately, I don't! How does no love lost translate to bitter feeling borne by the parties in the context is beyond me. Seems that all love lost is a more accurate, and less ambiguous way of describing the state of affairs. Discuss!

Clearly, there's a lot of love lost between me and the moronic usage of this phrase.

Dull Disclosure: Slow afternoon, not too much work...you get the drift.

[pbarry]

There was no love there to begin with, so when things went south, there was no love lost. :)

[1centaur]

As a guess, people who love each other have fights, and when they do their love is temporarily lost. People who have no positive feelings towards each other lose no love when they fight because there was none to lose in the first place. I presume Google has a better answer.

Don Quixote: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/246.html

[oliver1850]

I would guess that the supposition is that there was no love to begin with, so none can be lost.

I have a book on the origins of such terms and phrases.... somewhere.

[slidey]

Ah-ha! There was no love to begin with...interesting...troubling, but interesting. The phrase does make some sense, but casts a very twisted shadow on the parties.

[pbarry]

Joy Division knows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS9fSjP2fD8