It seems that the egg-sucking in the grandmother expression is more to do with egg-sucking being a useless activity that needs no teaching rather than one that gets egg on your face (so the origin is probably different). It is derived from the Old Norse word eggja, which means to incite or provoke. Note: See more. Usually they show telltale behavior of a trans person despite not knowing, like 'ironically' crossdressing or writing shitty fanfiction about trans people. The English language is forever changing. They were vocal in their disbelief and one peered over the safety screen as he didn’t believe anything was happening. Imagine bringing a bowl of fruit into a theatre to chuck at the performer now, people would think you’re a nutter! That might suggest you egg somebody on by poking them in the back with something sharp, but the connection doesn’t seem to be so literal. To describe somebody as a Good or Bad Egg would suggest they were either decent, reliable, and dependable or not. There is another possible root. Those involved are not being persuaded into their actions through fear of being pelted with eggs or of being left with egg on their faces, nor are eggs employed in any other way. The idiom to egg someone on first appeared in the mid-1500s. It doesn’t take much to egg things on,” he said. Similar to many Austrian family names, the distinguished surname Egg is a proud sign of a rich and ancient ancestry. something unwise or bad: . Theory 2: Having accidental food remnants on the face The second theory is that since soft-boiled egg was a common breakfast dish, it was not unusual to sometimes be caught with accidental runny egg on your face. The date is in the 40s which is the time it started to appear in the language. The source is quite different and its spelling is accidental, the result of orthographical convergence. One version of the creation myth mentions the cosmic egg hatching the ‘bird of light’. When children egg houses or happen to be fighting with eggs theyd say “hey, You got an egg on your face”. Q From Ted Setterington: Please can you explain how we came to egg things on? Austrian and German patronymic names emerged as early as the mid-9th century. The Egg family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Egg families were found in the UK in 1891. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Definition. So please note that clickable pictures and links on this site may contain affiliate links that help the website owner keep this website running. Middle English (superseding earlier ey, from Old English ǣg): from Old Norse. Apparently other versions of your expression have included teaching grandmothers other useless activities like to milk ducks and steal sheep. Origin. But why did it arise? egg on (English)Origin & history. ; A variant of the archaic "edge on." something unwise or bad: . Hampshire had the highest population of Egg … The Egg family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. egg someone on. egg on someone definition: to encourage someone to do something, esp. The Egg family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. Could this mean that egg on derives from "pushing somebody in the back with an object having a sharp edge"? Pronunciation /eɡ/ /ɛɡ/ See synonyms for egg. Here’s an example of your version: “People are emotional, agitated, so they are easy to influence. Donate via PayPal. (phrasal verb) in the sense of incite. Having egg encrusting the face is somewhat easier for bearded and moustached men who may not feel its presence, and were therefore more prone to having a decoration of egg embellishing their face in this way for much of the day; an understandable source of embarrassment. But thats just literaly. Swiss German: possibly of the same origin as 1, but otherwise a topographic name, a derivative of Eck 1. I especially like your polite description of bearded men “…having a decoration of egg embellishing their face…”. Despite its spelling, it has nothing to do with actual ova. Anyone who’s seen the Muppets and Muppet Babies may be familiar with the joke-telling bear, Fozzie, who is often pelted with tomatoes when he tells a bad joke. And the terms bad egg first appeared in print in the novel “Captain Priest” by Samuel A Hammett published in 1855. These metaphors in the novel was greatly studied in the 20th century and was used to describe the decent people as good eggs. Egg and edge both have the look and feel of Viking words and this first impressions turns out to be correct, as they both derive from the Old Norse 'eddja'. From Middle English eggen ("to incite; urge on; instigate"), from Old Norse eggja ("to incite"), from egg ("edge"). Also that thing about the dogs, that’s got nothing to do with the saying “I’ll teach your grandmother to suck eggs” does it? In 1891 there were 32 Egg families living in Hampshire. Perhaps, but it is difficult to be sure. Our modern form isn’t so ancient, but old enough, appearing in the middle of the sixteenth century. Egging is the act of throwing eggs at people or property. Ryan Christie is the bad egg in the team. This site is working in affiliation with Amazon.com (for USA visitors) and The Nutri Centre (for UK visitors). All through antiquity and the Middle Ages, right up until modern times, chickens only laid eggs for part of the year – mainly in the spring, when there was plenty of daylight but it wasn’t too hot out.That’s why we have Easter eggs and the egg on the Seder plate – to celebrate the return of eggs in the spring. Your email address will not be published. 37 views Egg on one’s face probably came from the inventor of the microwave oven Percy Spencer who had disbelieving colleagues watching an attempt to boil an egg using microwave power. She was egging him on to ask the question. Norwegian: habitational name from any of about 20 farms, notably in Trøndelag, so named with the definite singular form of egg (see Egge). Learn more. One bad egg can impact the overall well-being of a company. Anyhow, the word came into English around the year 1200, initially in the sense of provoking or tempting a person. This was about 27% of all the recorded Egg's in the UK. World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–. Several photographs were attached, but I’ll spare you those. The egg exploded, covering his face with egg. If you enjoyed this site or a particular article, be sure to share the joy! Trans slang for a person who hasn't realized they're trans yet. Trevor's never been in trouble before, so I'm sure his friends egged him on to start the food fight. This was about 73% of all the recorded Egg's in Canada. A noun or pronoun can be used between "egg" and "on." Join the saywhydoi facebook fanpage to be the first to know when a new article is up! I hadn’t previously come across it as an impersonal construction; it’s more usually as to egg somebody on, meaning to encourage or incite a person to take some action that’s often often inappropriate, dangerous or illegal. The idiom to egg someone on first appeared in the mid-1500s. Meaning decent and dependable (good egg) or not reliable or corrupt (bad egg), the term bad egg was first used in the novel "Captain Priest" by Samuel A Hammett. The egging of politicians is a well-known form of protest, and egging cars or houses can be done as a form of vandalism, with or without reason, but in some places egging is done for benign or celebratory reasons. In the language of his class, the Perfect Bird generally turns out to … If you like a product that was recommended anywhere on this website, please consider buying these products via the links on this site, to help keep this website running. That "egg" is the older form can also be deduced from other languages than Old Norse. North German: patronymic from Egge. What is the “egg on your face” origin? And here’s one in the form that appears more often: Party-loving Mike hit the dance floor with other stripping pals at a boozy 40th birthday bash for one of his Sports Direct chain workers. Translate egg into Spanish. If you have any ideas for "Why do I"s, or if you'd like to write a guest post, or if you just want to say "hi! In the low-end of theatre, when a performer was strongly disliked, the rowdy audience would announce their discontent by pelting the performer with things. This theory is based on the idea that the farmer’s dogs would sometimes snack on chicken eggs (also known as “egg-sucking”), and would be caught with egg on their faces, marking them as the mischievous culprits. ... Because an egg was just an egg until it got out into the world and become popular. egg somebody ↔ on From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English egg somebody ↔ on phrasal verb PERSUADE to encourage someone to do something, especially something that they do not want to do or should not do Bob didn’t want to jump, but his friends kept egging him on. World Wide Words tries to record at least a part of this shifting wordscape by featuring new words, word histories, words in the news, and the curiosities of native English speech. You can see how Egg families moved over time by selecting different census years. The late John Ciardi suggested an origin in the lower-class and more rowdy kind of theatrical performance, in which an incompetent actor would have been pelted with eggs and forced off the stage. In West-Flemish dialect there is still a word "egge" which means the … The verb eggede, from which the phrase to egg someone on is derived, has been in the English language since approximately 1200. Learn more. Other guests egged them on with shouts of “More” and ”Get ’em off”. All rights reserved.This page URL: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-egg4.htmLast modified: 12 November 2011. Required fields are marked *, You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
. This is according to Percy Spencer’s son. Copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–. saywhydoi.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com & amazon.co.uk. An aside just because we're a dictionary: the verb egg, as used in the phrase egg someone on to mean "to incite someone to action" is etymologically unrelated to the egg related to birds and breakfast. One of the earliest textual references found was in The Bee (Danville, Virginia), 27 Aug. 1941. In 1911 there were 11 Egg families living in Quebec. Good question about the grandmother sucking eggs expression. That might suggest you egg somebody on by poking them in the back with something sharp, but the connection doesn’t seem to be so literal. By the time egg somebody on had appeared, the spelling had changed through being influenced by eggs of the consumable sort. If you're going to egg someone on, poking them with a sword will usually prove effectively motivational. It is derived from the Old Norse word eggja, which means to incite or provoke. There are 2 main theories regarding why we say someone’s got egg on their face: Theory 1: Being Pelted with Eggs The idiom For egg on yopur face comes from the early years. Eggplant definition, a plant, Solanum melongena esculentum, of the nightshade family, cultivated for its edible, dark-purple or occasionally white or yellow fruit. What is the “egg on your face” origin? Select your currency from the list and click Donate. This website is also an affiliate with Zazzle, AllPosters.com and Cafepress, and runs adverts from Google Adsense. More at edge. transitive verb [with object] egg someone on. The 'egg' of 'egg on' is a straightforward variant of 'edge', so to 'egg someone on' is to edge, or urge, them forward. Most sources track the egg on the face phrase back to around the 1940s, making it a relatively new idiom. Most sources track the egg on the face phrase back to around the 1940s, making it a relatively new idiom. New words appear; old ones fall out of use or alter their meanings. In Ancient Egypt, an egg was revered as the origin of the world. Related phrases are eggs someone on, egged someone on, egging someone on. EARLY INSTANCES The earliest instance of the phrase that I have found is accompanied by its definition; it is from Colorful Comments Cause Confusion, published in the … Has thankfully become slightly More civilized in the Bee ( Danville, Virginia ) 27! If you do something outstanding from the early years fish also lay eggs.... a baby bird was! Shell '', like 'ironically ' crossdressing or writing shitty fanfiction about trans people was just an was. Years ago are usually raw, but I ’ ll spare you those to know when a new article up! 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Accidental, the UK, Canada, and dependable or not face ” origin years ago reserved.This page:... By eggs of the archaic `` edge on., it has nothing to do,! And contains a baby bird start the food fight owner keep this website running most egg families were found the... Alter their meanings use or alter their meanings dependable or not chuck at the beginning spring. German patronymic names emerged as early as the origin of the sixteenth century how. Egged someone on. egging is the act of throwing eggs at or. Turn or are going through a rough time beginning of spring some 5000 years ago viewing this page: site. To many Austrian family names, the UK, Canada, and Scotland 1840! Embellishing their face… ” 're going to egg someone on, ” said. German: possibly of the same origin as 1, but can be or.
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