Curate's egg

Curate's egg
Bishop: "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones"; Curate: "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!"
"True Humility" by George du Maurier, originally published in Punch, 1895.

The expression "a curate's egg" originally meant something that is partly good and partly bad, but as a result is entirely spoiled. Modern usage has tended to change this to mean something having a mix of good and bad qualities.

Derivation and history

The phrase derives from a cartoon in the humorous British magazine Punch on 9 November 1895. Drawn by George du Maurier and entitled "True Humility", it pictured a timid-looking curate taking breakfast in his bishop's house.[1]

The bishop says, "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones." The curate replies, "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!"

The expression refers to an objective understanding of the depicted scenario: since an egg that is even partly "bad" is effectively inedible, the supposedly "excellent" parts do not redeem it. The humour is derived from the fact that, given the social situation, the timid curate feels that he dare not complain about the quality of an inedible egg that would ordinarily be immediately rejected.

In the final issue of Punch (1992), the cartoon was re-printed with the caption: Curate: This f***ing egg's off![citation needed]

Examples

  • "The past spring and summer season has seen much fluctuation. Like the curate's egg, it has been excellent in parts."
Minister's Gazette of Fashion (1905)[1]
  • "All the same it is a curate's egg of a book. While the whole may be somewhat stale and addled, it would be unfair not to acknowledge the merits of some of its parts."
Oxford Magazine (1962)[1]
  • "Like the curate's egg, the details of Wegener's hypothesis were good in parts."
The Scientists by John Gribben (2001)

References

  1. ^ a b c The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press. 1998. pp. 449. 

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • curate's egg — ► curate s egg Brit. something that is partly good and partly bad. [ORIGIN: from a cartoon in Punch (1895) depicting a meek curate who, given a stale egg when dining with the bishop, assures his host that ‘parts of it are excellent’.] Main Entry …   English terms dictionary

  • curate's egg — (UK) If something is a bit of a curate s egg, it is only good in parts …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • curate's egg — n. [based on a joke in an 1895 issue of the English magazine Punch: when served a stale egg at his bishop s home, a timid curate says that parts of it are excellent] Brit. something that has both good and bad characteristics or parts …   English World dictionary

  • curate's egg — ¦kyu̇rə̇ts¦ ̷ ̷ noun Etymology: so called from a cartoon in the weekly Punch depicting a curate who was given a stale egg by his bishop and declared that parts of it were excellent chiefly Britain : something with both good and bad parts or… …   Useful english dictionary

  • curate’s egg — n [sing] a thing that is partly good and partly bad. The phrase comes from a cartoon in the British magazine Punch in 1895, in which a nervous young curate (= priest) is having breakfast with a bishop. The bishop says ‘I’m afraid you’ve got a bad …   Universalium

  • curate's egg — (UK)    If something is a bit of a curate s egg, it is only good in parts.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • Curate's egg —   (UK)   If something is a bit of a curate s egg, it is only good in parts …   Dictionary of English idioms

  • curate's egg, like the —  Part good, part bad. Usu. good in parts, like the curate s egg …   A concise dictionary of English slang

  • curate's egg — Brit. something that is partly good and partly bad. [from a cartoon in Punch (1895) depicting a meek curate who, given a stale egg when dining with the bishop, assures his host that ‘parts of it are excellent’.] → curate …   English new terms dictionary

  • curate's egg — cu′rate s egg′ n. brit. something of mixed quality • Etymology: after a cartoon by G. du Maurier in the English weekly Punch (Nov. 9, 1895): a meek curate, when served a bad egg at the bishop s table, replies that “parts of it are excellent” …   From formal English to slang

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