Posted on August 29th, 2008 in
Origin of languages
Plenty of fish
What is the origin of the expression “plenty of fish”? Well, I have hunted this one down and as of yet unable to find the origin. Usually idioms which refer to animals come from well known sources like the Bible or Aesop’s fables. However, the exact origin of plenty of fish alludes me and I would be curious if anyone knows where it came from. The first reference in English appeared in 1573, and in America about 1903.
There are Plenty of fish in the sea
The meaning of plenty of fish of course is, there are plenty of fish in the sea, that is there are plenty of other people to date and many perhaps better, as the world is full of opportunity. It is a big sea and there are many fish in it. I have even heard there is a dating site with the name plenty of fish.
Plenty of fish in other languages
What I do know is, this is plenty of fish is a universal
Indo-European idiom, but perhaps a world idiom, but I could not find it in Japan and a few other countries. But they might have a metaphorical equivalent as this is a universal human experience. For example, in Russian you have: there are plenty of fish in the pond. You have something like plenty of fish in Polish also referring to a Pond rather, than sea. But in Polish perhaps closer in meaning is the Polish idiom,tego kwiata jest pl Swiata that means, half of the world is this flower. Of course Poland is more a country of fields (Pole means field) than sea so this is more a Polish idiom. The Greeks say, there are plenty more fish in the sea. The Italians – non la sola possibilit, in Portugal they say, outras chances viro (quando algo d errado), Spanish no es la nica persona en el mundo. This all means the same thing. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Can you believe it is even in China have the same expression which basically means there are plenty of fish in the sea.
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1 responses to Plenty of fish
Could maybe the metaphor in Romeo and Juliet referring to husbands (and more specifically ‘Paris’) as ‘fish’ have a link to this proverb:
“What say you? can you love the gentleman?
This night you shall behold him at our feast;
Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face,
And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen;
Examine every married lineament,
And see how one another lends content
And what obscured in this fair volume lies
Find written in the margent of his eyes.
This precious book of love, this unbound lover,
To beautify him, only lacks a cover:
THE FISH LIVES IN THE SEA, and ’tis much pride
For fair without the fair within to hide:
That book in many’s eyes doth share the glory,
That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;
So shall you share all that he doth possess,
By having him, making yourself no less.”
(act 1 scene 3)
If so, it does make sense for the first reference in English to be just before the writing of the play itself (1591-1595)
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