What does the expression egg on have to do with chickens? Nothing, actually. Martha explains why, and tells the story of how the term curate’s egg came to mean “something with both good and bad characteristics.”
Transcript of “What the Cluck? Part 2 (minicast)”
Support for A Way with Words comes from MOSI online backup.
MOSI protects your valuable computer files against data loss from hard drive crashes, viruses, theft, and other disasters.
Find out more at mozy.com.
Welcome to another Minicast from A Way with Words.
I’m Martha Barnette.
Last week I told you about Randy.
He’s the guy in San Diego who’s raising chickens in his backyard.
And that got him to wondering about a lot of English expressions that involve chickens and eggs.
Now Randy says that he gave those three chickens three different nesting boxes, but they all insist on taking turns using just one of them.
He writes, “Every day about 10 a.m. They each lay one egg.
The hen who’s laying the egg sits in the nesting box.
The other two always stand near the nesting box squawking loudly till she’s done.
When the first hen finishes, she trades places with one of the others, and the whole thing happens again.”
They’ve always done this, so I assume this behavior is where we get the expression “to egg someone on.”
Well, Randy, that’s a good guess, but guess what?
The expression “to egg on” has nothing at all to do with chickens or eggs.
It comes from an old Norse verb, “egja,” which means “to incite or goad.”
And it shares a common linguistic ancestor with the word “edge.”
And in fact, in the past, the expression “edge on” has been used exactly in the same way as “egg on,” so they all belong to the same linguistic family.
And here’s one more “egg-spression” I really like.
It’s “curit’s egg.”
It means a mixed bag, and you’d use it this way.
Say, “I just read a curit’s egg of a book.
The plot was flimsy and the characters were wooden, but still I couldn’t put it down.”
This expression “curit’s egg” goes back to a cartoon that was published in 1895 in the British magazine Punch.
You see this picture of a meek curit in England that’s a clergyman, and he’s dining at the home of his bishop.
Unfortunately, the curit is served a bad egg, and the bishop notices that something’s wrong and politely says, “Oh, I’m afraid you’ve got a bad egg.”
But the curit hastily replies, “Oh, no, my lord.
I assure you, parts of it are excellent.”
The joke, of course, is that if you’re served a bad egg, it’s going to be totally bad, not partly bad.
But the curit is too timid to say so to his superior.
So today, the expression “curit’s egg” has come to mean something with both good and bad characteristics.
I just love this expression.
It’s such a valiant attempt at tactfulness, don’t you think?
Oh, parts of it are excellent.
Well, now I’m going to egg you on.
If you have a question about birds or words or any other aspect of language, please drop us a line.
The address is words@waywordradio.org, or you can always drop by our discussion forum.
That’s waywordradio.org/discussion.
For A Way with Words, I’m Martha Barnette.
You can support this program by making a donation at waywordradio.org/donate.
Thank you.
Thank you.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program, or subscribe to the newsletter.
Last week I told you about a letter from Randy in San Diego. He’s the guy who’s raising three chickens in his backyard. That got him wondering about expressions in English involving chicken. For example, what about “to egg someone on”?
Randy says he gave his trio of hens three different nesting boxes. But they all insist on taking turns using the same one. Now, you have to picture this. He writes: “Every day about 10 a.m., they each lay one egg. The hen who is laying the egg sits in the nesting box. The other two always stand near the nesting box squawking loudly until she is done. When the first hen finishes she trades places with one of the others and the whole thing happens again. They have always done this so I assume the behavior is where we get the expression to egg someone on.”
Good guess, Randy. But get this: the “egg” in “egg on” has nothing to do with the kind you eat.
To “egg on” comes from an Old Norse verb, eggja, which means to “goad or incite.” Eggja and “egg on” share a common linguistic ancestor with many other sharp, pointy words, including “edge.” In fact, in the past, the phrase “to edge on” has been used in exactly the same way as “egg on.”
Here’s another egg expression I really like. It’s “curate’s egg,” and it means “a mixed bag”—as in “I just read a curate’s egg of a book. The plot was flimsy, and the characters were wooden, but I still couldn’t put it down.”
The expression “curate’s egg” goes back to a cartoon published in 1895 in the British magazine Punch: A meek curate—that is, a clergyman—is dining at the home of his bishop. Unfortunately, he’s served a bad egg. The bishop notices that something’s wrong and politely says, “I’m afraid you’ve got a bad egg.” But the curate hastily replies, “Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you…parts of it are excellent!” The joke, of course, is that if an egg is bad, it’s going to be totally bad, not partly. But the curate’s too timid to say so.
The term curate’s egg has since come to mean “something with both good and bad characteristics.”
Now, I’m egging you on: If you have a question about words, or any other aspect of language, please drop us a line. Our address is words@waywordradio.org.
