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i have noticed a lot of posts (inc. mine)..often use the phrase..."robbing peter to pay paul"...anyone any idea where it originated...
i wondered if it is biblical in origin as peter and paul were names of the apostles....

i am always curious about sayings we use and this one is such a common phrase

having said all that...dont you feel sorry for peter ....he must be so broke and fed up....and wouldnt you like to be pauls buddy.....he must be loaded....!!LOL

[:D][:D][:D] I've often wondered that to. I'm sure someone must know. [?]

Sad I know but I googled it for you and have reproduced the results below.

"The expression 'rob Peter to pay Paul' goes back at least to John Wycliffe's 'Select English Works,' written in about 1380. Equally old in French, the saying may derive from a 12th-century Latin expression referring to the Apostles: 'As it were that one would crucify Paul in order to redeem Peter.' The words usually mean to take money for one thing and use it for another, especially in paying off debts," according to the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997) ".In 1546, it was included in John Heywood's collection of proverbs: 'To rob Peter to pay Paul.' George Herbert listed it in his collection (1640) as 'Give not Saint Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing.' First attested in the United States in 'Thomas Hutchinson Papers' (1657). The proverb has its counterparts in other languages. Decouvrir saint Pierre pour couvrir saint Paul (French, 'Strip Peter to clothe Paul'); Desnudar a uno santo para vestir a otro (Spanish, 'To undress one saint to dress another'); Dem Peter nehmen und dem Paul geben (German, 'To take from Peter and give to Paul'). " according to "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" (1996) by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996)."

I am thinking that I should get out more.......

Ray....you must know this one....

Thanks Size5, wow, it goes back centuries!

yeah...size 5...you really really really must get out more.!!!!...

but aside from that...how interesting....

i never think to google things...daft eh...but i may just do that for things like this..its funny how we use phrases and never think about them or why we actually use them

other ones i use a lot is " 6 of one and half a dozen of the other".... and "its no skin of my nose" and "neither here nor there.."
NO...dont google them....LOL..this is a debt forum....have a good day

Mine of useless information, I can tell you the origins of the word POSH and also the phrase "freezing the b***s off a brass monkey" if you wish.

Or perhaps not.

Regards.

Doesn't freezing the b***s of a brass monkey come from the Royal Navy? I can remember doing a tour of HMS Victory a few years ago and being told that the brass monkey was the thing they kept the cannon balls in, and when it was cold the cannon balls shrank and could roll off?

I'm probably talking rubbish, but I'm pretty sure that's what he told us!

Near enough spot on Skippy!!

A brass monkey was indeed the name given to the upside down triangular thingy (description not my strong point obviously), usually metal, where the cannonballs where laid. When it is cold metal contracts, hence forcing the balls off the plate.

Regards.

Pink Lint.....nothing in the pockets apart from the fluff that accumulates there....

I love trivia and general knowledge!