Web Images Videos Maps News Shopping Google Mail more »
Recently Visited Groups | Help | Sign in
Google Groups Home
Origin and meaning of the phrase "ashes in your mouth"
There are currently too many topics in this group that display first. To make this topic appear first, remove this option from another topic.
There was an error processing your request. Please try again.
flag
  5 messages - Collapse all  -  Translate all to Translated (View all originals)
The group you are posting to is a Usenet group. Messages posted to this group will make your email address visible to anyone on the Internet.
Your reply message has not been sent.
Your post was successful
 
From:
To:
Cc:
Follow-up To:
Add Cc | Add Follow-up to | Edit Subject
Subject:
Validation:
For verification purposes please type the characters you see in the picture below or the numbers you hear by clicking the accessibility icon. Listen and type the numbers that you hear
 
Nilesh  
View profile   Translate to Translated (View Original)
 More options 16 May 2002, 23:46
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: nileshs...@yahoo.com (Nilesh)
Date: 16 May 2002 15:46:13 -0700
Local: Thurs 16 May 2002 23:46
Subject: Origin and meaning of the phrase "ashes in your mouth"
I think I have heard this phrase most commonly in this context:

Your sweet taste of victory will taste like ashes in your mouth.
Cld someone give me the origin of this phrase or maybe explain it to me better.
Thanks in Advance
N


    Reply to author    Forward  
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message, you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Mike Oliver  
View profile   Translate to Translated (View Original)
 More options 17 May 2002, 00:17
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: Mike Oliver <oli...@math.ucla.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 16:17:08 -0700
Local: Fri 17 May 2002 00:17
Subject: Re: Origin and meaning of the phrase "ashes in your mouth"

Nilesh wrote:
> I think I have heard this phrase most commonly in this context:

> Your sweet taste of victory will taste like ashes in your mouth.
> Cld someone give me the origin of this phrase or maybe explain it
> to me better.

The phrase to me is irrevocably associated with the story in
which I first recall encountering it, "The Devil and Dan'l Webster".
The point-of-view character, whose name I don't recall, sells
his soul to the Devil in exchange for prosperity.  As the
time grows near for his soul to be claimed, things are outwardly
going very well for him, "there was talk of ----- for Governor,
and it was ashes in his mouth".

I think that context should explain the phrase pretty well.  As
to origin, I couldn't tell you.


    Reply to author    Forward  
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message, you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Donna Richoux  
View profile   Translate to Translated (View Original)
 More options 17 May 2002, 10:53
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: t...@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux)
Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 11:54:09 +0200
Local: Fri 17 May 2002 10:54
Subject: Re: Origin and meaning of the phrase "ashes in your mouth"

Nilesh <nileshs...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I think I have heard this phrase most commonly in this context:

> Your sweet taste of victory will taste like ashes in your mouth. Cld
> someone give me the origin of this phrase or maybe explain it to me
> better. Thanks in Advance

It's reasonably literal. You know what ashes are. You can imagine what
they taste like.  When people used to cook over real fires, ash used to
get on and in the food. It was not pleasant.

The metaphorical part is saying that the experience of victory is like a
"taste" of any sort.

--
Best wishes -- Donna Richoux


    Reply to author    Forward  
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message, you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Raymond S. Wise  
View profile   Translate to Translated (View Original)
 More options 17 May 2002, 18:08
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: mpls...@my-deja.com (Raymond S. Wise)
Date: 17 May 2002 10:08:58 -0700
Local: Fri 17 May 2002 18:08
Subject: Re: Origin and meaning of the phrase "ashes in your mouth"

I took a look at the entry for "ash" in *The Century Dictionary*
because I was curious if it would cite some use of "ashes in the
mouth" prior to that story. It did not--it didn't have the phrase at
all--but I *did* find the following, which I found interesting:

From
www.century-dictionary.com

[quote, with ASCII IPA used in place of the original pronunciation
symbols]

ash-hole /'&ShoUl/, _n._  A repository for ashes;
the lower part of a furnace ; an ash-bin.

[end quote]

Now *that* is the sort of thing I was talking about when I told Eric
Walker that usages that prove unfit go extinct! "Ash-hole" started out
as a perfectly good term, that is, perfectly fit for its language
environment, but changes in the language turned it into an undesirable
expression.

"Ash Hole" continues as a geographic name in Great Britain, for a
cavern and for a crag. I did find one reference to a name for a type
of geographical feature, "ash-hole basin." The author who used that
term was probably British: he spelled "organization" with an "s"
instead of a "z."

--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com


    Reply to author    Forward  
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message, you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Kevin Plumley  
View profile   Translate to Translated (View Original)
 More options 18 May 2002, 14:18
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: ama...@terra.es (Kevin Plumley)
Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 13:16:51 GMT
Local: Sat 18 May 2002 14:16
Subject: Re: Origin and meaning of the phrase "ashes in your mouth"
On Fri, 17 May 2002 11:54:09 +0200, t...@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux)
wrote:

>Nilesh <nileshs...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> I think I have heard this phrase most commonly in this context:

>> Your sweet taste of victory will taste like ashes in your mouth. Cld
>> someone give me the origin of this phrase or maybe explain it to me
>> better. Thanks in Advance

>It's reasonably literal. You know what ashes are. You can imagine what
>they taste like.  When people used to cook over real fires, ash used to
>get on and in the food. It was not pleasant.

Not pleasant?  I wouldn't say that.  From memory, not so dry as a
well-chilled chablis, of course, but adding just the required piquant
touch of je ne sais quoi to the - I think we had the wrong name for
the flour and water pads we cooked in the woods and on which
we grew almost as tall as any grown on impure McD's etc., and
perceptibly more sensible.  It's said it takes a pound of dirt to grow
a child - Where do children have contact with any earth, not porno,
these times.


    Reply to author    Forward  
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message, you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
End of messages
« Back to Discussions « Newer topic     Older topic »

Create a group - Google Groups - Google Home - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy
©2009 Google