Quote:

Hydra, can you tell me what chapter and where about in the chapter the "lie like a dentist at a fair" phrase was?



In the Penguin edition translated by Eric Sutton (1962) it's found in Chapter 9, at the bottom of page 134. Chapter 9 has 12 pages. Page 134 is the 10th page.

Does that help?

Oh, and for context, it's said by Daniel (who is prowling a "Fair" on the Boulevard de Sebastopol where male prostitutes hang out) to Bobby, a male prostitute. Daniel says it when Bobby tells him a sob-story and begs for money.

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Hydra,I consulted a French online Dictionnaire on this, asking:
mentir comme un dentiste a la foire on which they gave:
To lie like a dentist with (!) the fair
(but anyway the dictionnaire accepted the question as a standing expression.)

Obviously is it poorly translated , but quite directly from the idiom and it sure has to do with the charlatans and demi- charlatans in the old days performing operations and teeth pulling at fairs as seen in 16 th and 17 th century paintings- Breughel and Jan Steen a.s.
The dishonesty was international. As was, is and will be.



Thanks BranShea. The evidence is stacking up.

Maybe amateur dentists were in the past what used car salesmen are today.