January 05, 2010

Never look a gift horse in the mouth

It seems weird, but I have "Ah-ha!" moments for expressions that I've heard all my life. Like "never look a gift horse in the mouth" - I never really got it until today. This is probably going to make me seem like an idiot, but not having ever looked in a horses mouth, or understood why you would do so, or hearing about anyone giving a horse to someone else, it always seems a bit of an odd expression.

Today for whatever reason I figured it out. "Never check the quality on a gift".

I'm not sure what caused this moment of clarity, but I'll accept them when ever they come. ;-)

Posted by jim at January 5, 2010 06:29 PM
Comments

I always figured it had something to do with the trojan horse. I never really got the saying either. Who gives a horse as a gift?

Posted by: Kibbee at January 6, 2010 09:35 AM

Apparently it used to be a common thing to do:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_teeth#In_popular_culture
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/117000.html

Since reading this stuff, I've also learned where "long in the tooth" comes from too. Yay wikipedia. ;-)

Posted by: Jim at January 6, 2010 05:01 PM
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