Seen From a Galloping Horse

Growing up in Jamaica, a woman used to hear her fashion-designer mother invoke this phrase to indicate that something was good enough, even if it was flawed: “A man on a galloping horse wouldn’t see it.” Variations include “it’ll never be seen on a galloping horse” and “a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn’t see it.” The idea is that the listener should relax and take the long view. The expression has a long history in Ireland and England, and the decades of Irish influence in Jamaica may also account for her mother’s having heard it. This is part of a complete episode.