Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth

Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth

Susan Allen
Susan Allen

 

Ever wonder why we say the things we do? When I would act ungrateful as a child  my grandmother would gently  remind me  “not to look a gift horse in the mouth”... what the heck did she mean by that? I’m Susan Allen inviting you to stay tuned for today’s edition of Open  Range.  Naturally we’ve our own lingo out West for example, name where else is a  can of soda is called  a “Pop” if not for the west coast. And if a cowboy tells you he’d  “ride the river with you,” well  that’s  about the highest compliment you can receive. Now the saying “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” of course  is more universal but being a horse owner I’ve wondered at it’s origin . The phase goes back to the middle ages and actually first  appeared in print in  1546, attributed to  John Heywood a playwright ,singer and wordsmith in the courts of Henry the eighth. He’s  also famous for other proverbs like  “Rome wasn’t built in a day”,  “Many hands make light work”  and the famous line Shakespeare coined , “alls well that ends well.”  Anyway back to horses.  The phrase “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” came from the fact that we tell horses age by looking at their teeth, a long toothed horse is older and  typically  less valuable then one in it’s prime ... so if someone thought they were being cheated in a horse trade they’d check  the animals teeth.  “Don’t look a Gift horse in the mouth simply  means when given a present, be grateful and not try to assess the value of the gift.”. I’m Susan Allen    

 

 
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