As Keen as Mustard
Right now, with a throbbing headache and the prospect
of studying linguistic, I am not exactly as keen as mustard. And even if I
were, mustard is really one my least favourite things to put on my food, so no.
I could probably be as keen as ketchup or maybe herbal salt.
So what made the English use this strange expression
and compare the yellow gooey thing to being keen? phrases.org.uk says that in
the early 20th century, mustard was so popular that people would say stuff
like: "Shakespeare is mustard!", meaning that the guy is simply
great.The simile itself first appeared in the 17th century, imagine that! The
truth is people were just too keen on mustard, so I guess that this is where
the strange thing happened and keenness jumped from people to mustard.
Ta-dah!
Now I will go and study for my linguistics exam as
keenmustardly as I can. I promise! Just don’t make me eat mustard :) (No, I still
don’t understand. Keen as ketchup is even alliterated! Come on).
(the picture is taken from: blog.coulsonmacleod.com)
2 comments:
A procrastination post, yaaaay! :-) I love the alliteration in the heading, the better I know English, the more I appreciate the alliterations there. And this simile, after I learned it, is definitely one of my favourites, maybe because it's so nonsensical :D.
yaaaay ^^ I also wonder why I like this simile despite hating mustard, but yeah, I guess that craziness wins :D I have a soft spot for alliteration too, that would probably be Edgar's and Beowulf's fault :)
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