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Puzzling Proverbs

According to the cheapo Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms, Gets my goat is early 20th Century American but of obscure origin.

Partridge is a bit more help narrowing down the period to US, 1911, Anglicized by 1916 so on the verge of colloquial by 1937. Suggested relationship to French prendre le chêvre, to take the milk-goat which was the poor man's only source of nourishment.

To me, that French saying is more like Take the biscuit, a slightly different saying.

Looking up that we find that The Biscuit was a 10:30 pm train which ran between Reading and London, carrying those items from a factory there, c 1910 onwards.

Taking the Biscuit is a variant of Take the Bun which was a variant of Take the kettle. Taking the Huntley & Palmer is listed as a variant of Take the Bun but is surely more closely related to Biscuits.

Addictive though Partridge is, it always makes me think that people talked an amazing amount of old toss then as now. The changes are interesting though.

By strange coincidence, looking up the Biscuit Train, which was new to me, I found that plans are afoot to bring it back. And yes, the factory was Huntley & Palmers. Newspaper story, 7th of this month:

Here

:)
 
people talked an amazing amount of old toss then as now.
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Are you man enough to explain to our American friends what 'toss' is, in any amount and however aged? :lol:
 
escargot1 said:
people talked an amazing amount of old toss then as now.
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Are you man enough to explain to our American friends what 'toss' is, in any amount and however aged? :lol:
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Oh I'm sure they've always got their noses stuck in Toss of the Dobermanns. I know I have. :?
 
She was only the cricketer's daughter, but she took a full toss in the crease.
 
escargot1 said:
She was only the cricketer's daughter, but she took a full toss in the crease.
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and are you prepared to explain that to our american friends.... ;)
 
Bloody hell. I'm glad we talk English English here coz that one woud've stuffed me. Course, I'd've understood it anyway coz I follow cricket but that's beside the point
 
Of course I am prepared to explain it.

However, this is one of the things Wikipedia is best at. ;)
 
JamesWhitehead said:
According to the cheapo Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms, Gets my goat is early 20th Century American but of obscure origin.

Partridge is a bit more help narrowing down the period to US, 1911, Anglicized by 1916 so on the verge of colloquial by 1937. Suggested relationship to French prendre le chêvre, to take the milk-goat which was the poor man's only source of nourishment.

To me, that French saying is more like Take the biscuit, a slightly different saying.

Looking up that we find that The Biscuit was a 10:30 pm train which ran between Reading and London, carrying those items from a factory there, c 1910 onwards.

Taking the Biscuit is a variant of Take the Bun which was a variant of Take the kettle. Taking the Huntley & Palmer is listed as a variant of Take the Bun but is surely more closely related to Biscuits.

Addictive though Partridge is, it always makes me think that people talked an amazing amount of old toss then as now. The changes are interesting though.

By strange coincidence, looking up the Biscuit Train, which was new to me, I found that plans are afoot to bring it back. And yes, the factory was Huntley & Palmers. Newspaper story, 7th of this month:

Here

:)
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And another happy piece of synchronicity on this Board - I'm a Reading man born and bred, and I work just round the corner from the old Huntley and Palmer's site!
 
gellatly68 said:
And another happy piece of synchronicity on this Board - I'm a Reading man born and bred, and I work just round the corner from the old Huntley and Palmer's site!
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The smells must send you crazy!
 
The smells of industrial decay, you mean? :D Sadly, Huntley & Palmer's closed down years ago.
 
escargot1 said:
All proverbs, even apparently obscure foreign ones, can be understood with a minute's thought. s'not rocket science. ;)
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A Dutch proverb:
- Er is geen koe zo bont of er zit wel een vlekje op.

In English (clumsy translation):

- There is no cow so multicoloured but that it has one spot.
- Even the most spotted cow has one spot.

Go ahead ...
 
One of my personal favourites - "I've seen wiser chewing grass" :)
 
Frobush said:
EDIT -

stuneville said:
Actually, that was apparently made up for a Fine Fare commercial. Nobody actually said it before then.
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Not according to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary!

— PHRASES many a little makes a mickle (also many a mickle makes a muckle) many small amounts accumulate to make a large amount.

— ORIGIN Old English.

— USAGE The forms mickle and muckle are merely variants of the same (now dialect) word meaning ‘a large amount’. However, the alternative form of the proverb (originally a misquotation) has led to a misunderstanding that mickle means ‘a small amount’.
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Yes, said misquotation being the Fine Fare advert I cited in the first place. The words all existed, definitely. In that sequence, no they didn't.
 
So... you're playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order? :lol:
 
glamour_dust said:
These are strange to me. Some very.

Source here

A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

A black hen lays a white egg.

A cat in gloves catches no mice.

A cock is valiant on his own dunghill.

A good anvil does not fear the hammer.

A great dowry is a bed full of brambles.

An ass loaded with gold climbs to the top of the castle.

As the fool thinks, so the bell clinks.

Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune.

Before you make a friend eat a bushel of salt with him.

Diseases are the interests of pleasures.

Dogs that put up many hares kill none.

Every barber knows that.

Fine words butter no parsnips.

Fish and company stink in three days.

"Hamlet" without the Prince of Denmark .
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I know glamour dust is gone but anyway:

A bad workman quarrels with his tools.=a bad workman blames his tools

A cat in gloves catches no mice.=you cant make an omelette without breaking eggs

A cock is valiant on his own dunghill.=you are a big man in your own house

Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune.=more people die from alcohol than drown at sea

Diseases are the interests of pleasures.=wear a condom

Fine words butter no parsnips.=flattery will get you nowhere

Fish and company stink in three days.=dont out stay your welcome
 
Souleater said:
Classic british comedy :D
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They ripped into lots of celebrities especially for the xmas shows. Can remember Elton John, at the time one of the very top British performers, being seen apparently wandering around the studios being misdirected and eventually falling out of a high window.
 
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