Basically Hooke was short, so he Newton was backhandedly saying he didn't get his ideas from him. Since then it has acquired a secondary meaning apart from the insult.

I knew he was insulting someone! For all I have read Newton seems such an a uppity give credit to none asshole that that phrase always has struck me as completely out of character. Now, if he was dismissing a competitor...

Thank you, nice twist!

I hate to smash this concept, but if you'd bothered to read the link I provided:

> This has recently been interpreted by a few writers as a sarcastic remark directed at Hooke's appearance.[8] Although Hooke was not of particularly short stature, he was of slight build and had been afflicted from his youth with a severe kyphosis. However, at this time Hooke and Newton were on good terms and had exchanged many letters in tones of mutual regard. Only later, when Robert Hooke criticized some of Newton's ideas regarding optics, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate, and the two men remained enemies until Hooke's death.