Timeline for Etymology of 'teaching grandma to suck eggs'?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2020 at 2:09 | comment | added | Robusto | @david: They aren't my suppositions, they're Eric Partridge's. | |
| Mar 16, 2020 at 2:03 | comment | added | david macCary richter | Robusto's suppositions here are quite wrong, missing the connotations and the history alike. No disrespect, but 2 informative answers have been upvoted above. | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 18:24 | comment | added | Marthaª | depends on the kind of spinning you're doing. I have a friend who does a lot of spinning, but it's almost all wool, and she doesn't so much as own a distaff. My antique-reproduction flax wheel, on the other hand, has a built-in distaff. Cotton spinners will sometimes use a distaff, sometimes not, depending on how their cotton was prepared. (Cotton is pretty hard to spin by hand, though. Most people who spin for recreation don't bother with cotton.) | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 10:53 | comment | added | Robusto | @Martha: Is a distaff not involved? | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 2:53 | comment | added | Marthaª | You don't actually spin with a distaff. A distaff is just a stick for holding your wool or flax. You spin with a spindle, either handheld or attached to a spinning wheel. | |
| Jun 25, 2011 at 21:22 | comment | added | Jez | Bizarre. How on earth does 'spin' turn in to 'suck eggs'? | |
| Jun 25, 2011 at 21:18 | history | answered | Robusto | CC BY-SA 3.0 |