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fandom_grammarHappy Friday, Fandom Grammar watchers! It sure has been an exciting past few weeks, what with the release of the new Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 trailer. Although it provided some juicy details for us fans to salivate over in the coming months, it did little to sate our hunger for Hunger Games goodness.
Speaking of which, this week’s food-oriented idioms inspire hunger of a different sort: “half a loaf is better than no bread” and “the bread always falls butter side down.” Let’s satisfy our hunger for knowledge below the cut:
“Half a loaf is better than no bread”
Prior to its present-day wording, this idiom first appeared in writer John Heywood's 1546 work Dialogue of Proverbs as "Throwe no gyft agayne at the giuers head, For better is halfe a lofe then no bread." References to this version of the idiom are also peppered throughout various writings from the 1600s. But, as its present-day wording suggests, the idiom in its current form was born—erm, baked out of hunger. In the late 1700s, the United Kingdom faced a hunger crisis brought on by a combination of multiple poor harvests and extreme pre-Napoleonic Wars tension between the the country and France. Due to the tension, trade prohibitions were slapped on the importation and exportation of common trade items. One such item was grain. The shortage of grain led to a sharp increase in its price as well as empty stomachs for many British citizens. A poor harvest in 1795, which exacerbated the crisis, proved the last straw for several of these citizens. Many riots broke out across the country that year.
Unfortunately, this crisis would last—and, in fact, worsen—until the mid-1800s. During that time period, many wealthy legislators who saw their citizens’ desperation for food as guaranteed money in their wallets passed a series of laws that regulated the trade of grain. These laws, which were supported by equally wealthy landowners who grew grain, slapped stringent restrictions upon the grain bought and sold within the U.K. via a duty on all grain from abroad, where it sold for cheaper prices. They became known as “the Corn Laws.” The British Parliament, led by Prime Minister Robert Peel, finally repealed them in 1846.
A few years prior to the passing of the Corn Laws, John Marshall printed a short poetic piece via broadside paper (called a “broadside ballad”) that focused on the exchange between two characters named Tom Hod and Jack Anvil. Tom is angry about the lack of food available and wants to riot, but Jack protests, stating that rioting is pointless as the government cannot control the weather. He encourages Tom to be grateful for the little food that they have and warns that rioting will only lead to further strife as well as persecution by the law. This broadside ballad was called “A Riot; or, Half a Loaf is Better Than No Bread.” You can read a transcript of it as well as view a scan of the original ballad here.
Although the idiom originally referred only to food, it has since come to refer to any item of which the listener feels he or she doesn’t have enough and encourages him or her to be grateful for whatever amount of that item he or she has. An example using the characters of The Hunger Games:
“The bread always falls butter side down”
This pessimistic idiom drew its inspiration from a timeless superstition that bread falling upon its buttered side causes bad luck (much the same as breaking a mirror causes seven years’ worth of bad luck). As irony would have it, a 1832 science periodical, John Timbs’s Knowledge for the People, or, the Plain Why and Because, pioneered the wording of the idiom:
Three years later, The Knickerbocker; or, New York Monthly Magazine would publish a ditty based on the superstition that gave the idiom a more negative tone similar to that of its present-day wording:
In 2007, the BBC broadcast a short program investigating the science behind the phrase—whether or not bread really does always fall on whichever side is adorned with butter or other spread versus the side that is plain—but, of course, much like the flipping of a coin, the side on which a given piece of bread lands depends on more than just the slight weight increase that spread gives to that side.
But regardless of whether or not bread does always fall butter side down (it doesn’t), the idiom still expresses the same sentiment: whatever can go wrong for the person reciting the idiom will go wrong—a sort of self-contained Murphy’s Law. An example:
Sources
The British Museum
Encyclopedia Britannica
JSTOR Daily
National Library of Scotland
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
The Phrase Finder
The University of California @ Santa Barbara
Speaking of which, this week’s food-oriented idioms inspire hunger of a different sort: “half a loaf is better than no bread” and “the bread always falls butter side down.” Let’s satisfy our hunger for knowledge below the cut:
“Half a loaf is better than no bread”
Prior to its present-day wording, this idiom first appeared in writer John Heywood's 1546 work Dialogue of Proverbs as "Throwe no gyft agayne at the giuers head, For better is halfe a lofe then no bread." References to this version of the idiom are also peppered throughout various writings from the 1600s. But, as its present-day wording suggests, the idiom in its current form was born—erm, baked out of hunger. In the late 1700s, the United Kingdom faced a hunger crisis brought on by a combination of multiple poor harvests and extreme pre-Napoleonic Wars tension between the the country and France. Due to the tension, trade prohibitions were slapped on the importation and exportation of common trade items. One such item was grain. The shortage of grain led to a sharp increase in its price as well as empty stomachs for many British citizens. A poor harvest in 1795, which exacerbated the crisis, proved the last straw for several of these citizens. Many riots broke out across the country that year.
Unfortunately, this crisis would last—and, in fact, worsen—until the mid-1800s. During that time period, many wealthy legislators who saw their citizens’ desperation for food as guaranteed money in their wallets passed a series of laws that regulated the trade of grain. These laws, which were supported by equally wealthy landowners who grew grain, slapped stringent restrictions upon the grain bought and sold within the U.K. via a duty on all grain from abroad, where it sold for cheaper prices. They became known as “the Corn Laws.” The British Parliament, led by Prime Minister Robert Peel, finally repealed them in 1846.
A few years prior to the passing of the Corn Laws, John Marshall printed a short poetic piece via broadside paper (called a “broadside ballad”) that focused on the exchange between two characters named Tom Hod and Jack Anvil. Tom is angry about the lack of food available and wants to riot, but Jack protests, stating that rioting is pointless as the government cannot control the weather. He encourages Tom to be grateful for the little food that they have and warns that rioting will only lead to further strife as well as persecution by the law. This broadside ballad was called “A Riot; or, Half a Loaf is Better Than No Bread.” You can read a transcript of it as well as view a scan of the original ballad here.
Although the idiom originally referred only to food, it has since come to refer to any item of which the listener feels he or she doesn’t have enough and encourages him or her to be grateful for whatever amount of that item he or she has. An example using the characters of The Hunger Games:
Effie stabbed at the squishy lump that Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch claimed was called "meatloaf" a few more times before laying the fork on the table and sliding away the tray. “Oh, this is unacceptable. Surely they have something a bit more appetizing in the back.” Turning around, she waved her hand at the nearest District 13 service worker. “Hello! Excuse me!”
When the worker walked over, Effie smiled and said, “I’d like to inquire about your selection in the back. Instead of this—” She touched the tray, “how about something a little more…befitting of the Mockingjay’s escort? Some hot bread with a slice of butter, perhaps?”
The worker shook his head. “No. You eat this,” he said as he slid the tray and fork back in front of her.
Effie’s jaw dropped. “But what if I can’t eat this?”
“Then you don’t eat at all,” the worker said, jabbing the fork into the meatloaf before walking away.
Effie looked up from the fork to Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch. Haymitch was grinning. “Well, you know what they say, sweetheart: half a loaf is better than no bread.”
“The bread always falls butter side down”
This pessimistic idiom drew its inspiration from a timeless superstition that bread falling upon its buttered side causes bad luck (much the same as breaking a mirror causes seven years’ worth of bad luck). As irony would have it, a 1832 science periodical, John Timbs’s Knowledge for the People, or, the Plain Why and Because, pioneered the wording of the idiom:
“We may here notice a remarkable Latin superstition, that if a child's slice of bread and butter be let fall with the buttered side downwards, it is an unlucky omen; if with the other side, lucky.”
Three years later, The Knickerbocker; or, New York Monthly Magazine would publish a ditty based on the superstition that gave the idiom a more negative tone similar to that of its present-day wording:
“I never had a slice of bread,
Particularly large and wide,
That did not fall upon the floor,
And always on the buttered side!”
In 2007, the BBC broadcast a short program investigating the science behind the phrase—whether or not bread really does always fall on whichever side is adorned with butter or other spread versus the side that is plain—but, of course, much like the flipping of a coin, the side on which a given piece of bread lands depends on more than just the slight weight increase that spread gives to that side.
But regardless of whether or not bread does always fall butter side down (it doesn’t), the idiom still expresses the same sentiment: whatever can go wrong for the person reciting the idiom will go wrong—a sort of self-contained Murphy’s Law. An example:
“This place is absolutely intolerable,” Effie hissed, stabbing her fork into the lump again and again. “No color. No beauty. No style. No coffee. And now no bread, either. Just these drab jumpsuits and meatloaf.”
Haymitch shoveled a forkful off of his tray and into his mouth. “Yeah, the bread sure does always fall butter side down, huh?”
Sources
The British Museum
Encyclopedia Britannica
JSTOR Daily
National Library of Scotland
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
The Phrase Finder
The University of California @ Santa Barbara
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