Meaning:
Shy or reluctant to do something. Here `backward' means shy or unwilling;
`come forward' means present oneself into view.
Background:
`Backward in coming forward' first began to appear in print early 19th century
England. The `come forward' part of the expression had long been used with the
meaning `announce oneself'. An early example of that usage in print is found
in the English poet William Neville's mystical poem Castell of Pleasure, 1518:
Come forward and be not afrayd your selfe to auaunce.
The first example of `backward in coming forward' in print that I know of is
in Cobbett's Annual Register, Volume 4, July-December 1803:
"Is it matter of surprise that men proud of their birth, of their
hereditary honours, of their ancient families, should be backward to come
forward..."
The expression is less used now than it was in the first half of the 20th
century, although it is still quite commonplace where I live in the north of
England. As is well-known in the UK, Yorkshire folk are not renowned for
being backward in coming forward.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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For me, lacking confidence in English has been the root of many problems since I
came to the west. By that time, for example, I had spent 25 years learning not
to stand out in a herd and been punished for each transgression. All of a
sudden, I plunged headlong into a new crowd where nearly everyone specialized in
tooting their own horn. Self-concious in social settings, a class or seminar,
for example, I often tried to hide my insecurity and went backward in coming
foward, hoping no one would notice.
A gun wouldn't help. Nor would running. Not for me. But building physical
strength seemed worthwhile. A friend and Chinese scholar said he sometimes
forgot his stutter once he could do 10 Turkish getups with a 32kg kettlebell.
