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#2848 - 05/22/00 09:53 AM Etymology
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 2 Sushmita![]()
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stranger
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 2
New Delhi, India Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "Teach my grandmother to suck eggs" ? It's such an amusing phrase, but where did it come from ?
Sush
Sush
#2849 - 05/22/00 04:54 PM Re: Etymology
Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
lower upstate New York I would love to know where this phrase originated, too! It also occurs in Brazilian Portuguese: vá ensinar tua vovô a chupar ovos. ("Go teach your grandmother to suck eggs") ... I was never quite sure what it meant, but I guess it's equivalent to "go fly a kite."
#2850 - 05/22/00 05:23 PM Re: Etymology
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Carpal Tunnel
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this too shall pass according to Quinion [see link], it's from an 18th century translation of a Spanish playwright; he also includes this verse to demonstrate the meaning:
Teach not thy parent's mother to extract
The embryo juices of the bird by suction.
The good old lady can that feat enact,
Quite irrespective of your kind instruction.
http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-tea1.htm
http://members.aol.com/tsuwm
#2851 - 05/22/00 06:30 PM Re: Etymology
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 Jackie![]()
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Louisville, Kentucky OH! OH! OH!
I bow, and kowtow, to the new enthusiast!
Congratulations!! You are Supreme in my book!
I visited the link--thank you.
#2852 - 05/22/00 07:13 PM Re: Etymology
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112 David108![]()
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member
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112
Auckland, New Zealand in tones of great awe
Thank you for that, tswum. I have added the link to my bookmarks, and will certainly use it. How do you find these things?
#2853 - 05/22/00 07:25 PM Re: Etymology
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 AnnaStrophic![]()
Carpal Tunnel![]()
Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 6,511
lower upstate New York (adding my voiced to the awed)
That's great stuff, enthusiast tsuwm. I am humbled before your astonishing research talent. Thanks for this and other links. :-)
#2854 - 05/23/00 01:22 PM to my truckling claque...
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,538 tsuwm![]()
Carpal Tunnel![]()
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,538
this too shall pass [pleonasm can be fun!]
research for my own modest word page has led me to discover (1) all of the good word sites in the known English-speaking universe [hyperbole] and (2) several useful tricks for taming the available search engines.
for instance, try this at http://google.com
enter the following search string as shown:
grandmother "suck eggs"
and there, right at the top, you should see the hit for Quinion, with whom I was already quite familiar and on which I leaped forthwith. this stuff really ain't rocket science!
"What's another word for Thesaurus?" -Steven Wright
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