Although I haven't read the Australian children's book "The Magic Pudding", I'm familiar with the phrase "cut and come again" being used in it.
Is the phrase understood outside of Australia?
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Sign up to join this communityAlthough I haven't read the Australian children's book "The Magic Pudding", I'm familiar with the phrase "cut and come again" being used in it.
Is the phrase understood outside of Australia?
Yes, the phrase, 'cut-and-come-again' is definitely used in the UK, usually to refer to types of vegetable or yummy chocolate cakes.
Here are some definitions:
'cut-and-come-again spinach'
Source: ODO
'It was cut, roast, and come again, for the next hour and a half.'
Source: Fine Dictionary
Examples of usage from the UK:
I also know this phrase from the delightful The Magic Pudding where it is a bit of a joke because the pudding “regrows” after you cut a piece—like certain vegetables would—but also the pudding is delicious and so the characters cut a piece and then come for more. I just came across the phrase in Cranford where the first person character uses it to refer to her family liking to criticize her for a particular fault: “and in general they cut and come again.” A fine pun, I thought.
It depends on where you are at. I have never heard that phrase used by a person from the United States or Canada, and I live in the Northern United States. I have heard it used on Brit-box. I actually looked it up, because I heard it used on Agatha Raisin (I love that show), and I figured it was something British, but I guess it's Australian?
I would have to say that it didn't make it to the Americas, but it did, however, make it to western Europe.