Six-fifteen this morning Kathy, Lindsay and I sat down to breakfast. Lindsay was about to scurry off to zero period (biology at seven in the morning - good grief), Kathy, off to a client and me off to write before I start my real job. Casually, Kathy says, "You've got a little egg on your face." (real egg on an actual face - I won't say whose face)
This started a brief conversation about colloquialisms and idioms. Lindsay had never heard the saying and in that moment, the phrase was passed from one generation to the next. I don't know the origin, but it is a strange one.
Do any of you know where this comes from, do you have a guess?
I'd enjoy hearing your insights and thoughts, please comment.
I hope the answer isn't painfully obvious and simple, I'd hate to end up with "egg on my face."
I think it's from a fox in the hen house. Fox goes in and eats chicken's egg but gets caught if he comes out with egg on his face.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-egg2.htm
ReplyDeleteI found this on the web...
Lisa
Love it Marc!
ReplyDeleteLisa, Eggs from the audience... that makes sense. From the classic example, I'd think it's "tomato on your face."
Any other ideas?
Idioms are great-this one seems to have to do with an embarrassing situation. The origin is obscure; I'll go with the egg dripping off of one's face, in an "over easy" sort of way.
ReplyDelete