I received an e-mail message from a chum in the Mother Country in which he said that the tranquilizers which his vet prescribed for his dog left the poor beast not knowing if it were Arthur or Martha. One wonders as to the etymology of this curious expression. Was there, perhaps, a pair of characters in British literature named Arthur and Martha?

Is your friend a poet and doesn't know it? It is an apt phrase and certainly conveys its meaning clearly. Never heard it before and I am a bit of a colloquial collector. Interested to hear from the more learned among us.

It's a very common expression here in Australia. It has been generalized from its original literal meaning of not knowing one's gender (or do I mean sex?) to not having a clue. Here's an Australian slang site (not another one!) that gives the more general meaning of the expression. Mind you, I know that a lot of expressions that we Aussies claim as "our" slang turn out to be someone else's first!

http://www.catchnet.com.au/~tlr/aussie/a.html

I know that a lot of expressions that we Aussies claim as "our" slang turn out to be someone else's first!


Like pavlova?

Great site Marty, thanks! You know if I ever travel on over there I will have to bone up on this site to make sure I understand what people are on about. This, of course, with the hope that the site is kept up to date. Nothing dates you more than using old slang, do get it man? Groovy!

Great expression Padre, and thanks for sharing it with us. I suspect, though, that it'll never gain currency in the US, except maybe in Boston or the deep South, because most of the rest of us pronounce our Rs.

>not knowing if it were Arthur or Martha

Reminds me of this lovely lady I dated in college. Her name was Carmen Cohen. Her mum called her Carmen and her father called her Cohen. Sometimes she didn't know if she was Carmen or Cohen.

. Sometimes she didn't know if she was Carmen or Cohen.

She had two children in later life
(After she became a wife);
This tale I heard re: her, I doubt:
One's name was In; the other, Out.