You can't teach her to suck eggs
She knows more than you do
TRANSLATION
teach someone to suck eggs = das Ei will klüger sein als die Henne, jemand gute Ratschläge geben, der mehr Erfahrung hat als man selbst --- GOOGLE INDEX can't teach someone to suck eggs: approximately 60,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Lord Hoffmann, at the twilight of his judicial career, described some of the judgements from the European court of human rights as TEACHING GRANDMOTHER TO SUCK EGGS.
(Guardian Online)
---
"I hardly dare say anything. I don't really want to TEACH ANY MORE GRANDMOTHERS TO SUCK EGGS."
- Prince Charles
(Guardian Online)
---
"I hardly dare say anything. I don't really want to TEACH ANY MORE GRANDMOTHERS TO SUCK EGGS."
- Prince Charles
Did you
know?
teach someone to suck eggs
idiom
- to give advice to someone about a subject that they already know more about than you
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
In its original form this odd-sounding expression was "you can't teach grandmothers to suck eggs." It stems from the idea that it's silly to try to give an older person advice. After all, they already know everything. Or so it seems sometimes. But why use grandmothers as an example?
The phrase originated centuries ago when most people lived in rural farming areas. Women in particular had to be good at everything, possessing many skills ranging from sewing, cooking and fixing things in the house to working on the farm. As one unknown author put it, "a grandmother is a wonderful mother with lots of practice."
You can't teach grandmother to suck eggs sounds absurd, but like many idioms that's exactly the idea; which is to use an extreme example to get one's point across.
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Bill is a tech wizard. Telling him how to solve a computer problem is like teaching a grandmother to suck eggs."
idiom
- to give advice to someone about a subject that they already know more about than you
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
In its original form this odd-sounding expression was "you can't teach grandmothers to suck eggs." It stems from the idea that it's silly to try to give an older person advice. After all, they already know everything. Or so it seems sometimes. But why use grandmothers as an example?
The phrase originated centuries ago when most people lived in rural farming areas. Women in particular had to be good at everything, possessing many skills ranging from sewing, cooking and fixing things in the house to working on the farm. As one unknown author put it, "a grandmother is a wonderful mother with lots of practice."
You can't teach grandmother to suck eggs sounds absurd, but like many idioms that's exactly the idea; which is to use an extreme example to get one's point across.
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Bill is a tech wizard. Telling him how to solve a computer problem is like teaching a grandmother to suck eggs."
