Why do we say it ?
“Many a Slip ’Twixt Cup and Lip.”
This saying has several parallels in English idiom. For example, “Never count your chickens before they’re hatched” and “Don’t halloo till you’re out of the wood.”
These are ail warnings against- excessive optimism, most of us being very prone to suppose that any plan which promises well for us is bound to succeed. After all, it is well to remember that no man can allow for all the possible misfortunes which may befall him.
It is said of a certain king who reigned in Samos that he planted, a vineyard, but was warned by one of his slaves that he would never, live to taste the wine pressed from its grapes. However the fruit ripened and the wine was pressed. The King ridiculed the slave for his apparently false prophecy, and the latter replied: “There’s many a slip ’twixt cup and lip.” Scarcely had the words been spoken when news came that a bear was in the vineyard laying waste the vines. The king jumped up in a fury and went out to kill the bear, but was himself killed in the encounter.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19300503.2.90
Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 21073, 3 May 1930, Page 8
Word Count
195Why do we say it ? Southland Times, Issue 21073, 3 May 1930, Page 8
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