Never look a gift horse in the mouth!

Do you ever wonder where on earth I get some of the sayings I come up with, as I tell you things from day to day? Until recently, I’d never given it any real thought, as no one has ever questioned me about it. When I’m talking or writing about stuff, it just sort of comes out of my brain. It baffles me, as to how we humans can remember certain things flawlessly, while other memories can just wash off in the shower.

Not too long ago, my Chica and I were driving somewhere, while I babbled on about one thing or another… I don’t get out much! Anyway, amidst whatever story I was entertaining her with, I uttered the phrase, “Never look a gift horse in the mouth,” to which she said something to the effect of, “how do you even know that saying means what you’re using it for?” I answered her honestly, that I wasn’t actually sure.

After thinking about it a moment, I realized that it just sort of made sense. I decided to give her my best guess, as to what I assumed it meant. That particular saying isn’t too hard for me to figure out, since I was born and raised around horses. From what I understand about the old days of horse drawn carriages and work horses, there was much value placed on ones horse. I am aware that the best way to determine the age and health of a horse, is to look at the teeth.

When you are looking to purchase a new horse, you do things like check teeth, hooves and muscle tone to look for any flaws or weaknesses. Horses were purchases, as well as, traded for goods and services. We all know there are times when someone is struggling financially and someone else steps in to generously help them recover. I assume that it would be very disrespectful, if when being offered a horse as a gift, you turn around and inspect the horses mouth to determine the value of the gift. It would be rude, I think!

Now, this is just a guess! On my honor, I attest that I’ve not yet looked up the saying, in an effort to determine how far off I am. I shall do this right now… give me a moment……..

First of all, Google refers to the saying as an Idiom, so ok.

The first definition I read says this: to advise someone not to refuse something good that is being offered. This was from Cambridge.org. So far, so good!

Where it came from sort of surprised me, as you would think I would have seen this coming. Apparently it was mentioned by St. Jerome, while commenting on something the Apostle Paul said in the bible. Well, duh… they used horses quite a lot back in that time. Sayings like, long in the tooth, also came from this era. Many horse phrases have been heard in much of the racing and showing world, so this has to be where I learned most of my horsey “As They Say” phrases, or to be correct… Idioms.

I have to say that this one was rather easy to guess and explain, so I’ll give myself some extra credit on this one. From here on out, however, it isn’t going to be so easy for me to come up with ideas on old sayings, as I’d like you to offer up the phrases.

I want to get some shout outs from all of you, as to what phrases you want me to take a swing at defining. If no one offers up a fresh one for me to work with, I shall simply pull one out of my brain and work with that, but I give you my word that I shall not cheat for my answers. Each Saturday morning I will give you a phrase, then my own definition, and from there I’ll let Google either confirm or refute my answer. Sound fair?

Well, it will have to be fair enough!

P.S. You’ve no idea how hard it was to get a photo of a horse, either in or around a gift. I won’t even try to explain how hilarious the pics turned out, when I asked the AI to give me a photo of a woman brushing a horses teeth… instead I’ll just show you!

Based on their horrific teeth, not to mention their malformed nostrils and severe underbites, I don’t think either of these horses would be very good gifts!