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Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast
Episode 186: Give an Inch, Take a Mile
Record Date: March 16, 2023
Air Date: March 22, 2023
Intro
Shauna:
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase.
I’m Shauna Harrison
Dan:
And I’m Dan Pugh
Each week we take an idiom or other turn of phrase and try to tell the story from its entry into the English language, to how it’s used today.
Opening Hook
Have you ever shown someone a little kindness, and then had that person take advantage of you? I’m sure many, if not all, of us have had that happen before. It is probably more rare than we think, but because we as humans remember negative experiences so well, we remember those times where someone took advantage of our hospitality or kindness. As you might have guessed, we even have a saying for such a thing. I gave an inch and they took a mile.
Meaning
This phrase is interesting for a couple of points. First, it is one I’ve heard many times and I’ve used a few times as well. But it is still a resoundingly negative phrase. It’s also interesting because it is a latter version of an earlier phrase, which will get to in a few.
First, the definition from the Oxford English Dictionary.
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give him an inch and he'll take a mile: the slightest concession will be unscrupulously exploited.
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I feel like dictionaries shouldn’t be allowed to use big words in their definitions. Scruples are a thought or circumstance that troubles the mind or conscience. So if someone did not have scruples, or were unscrupulous, it means they are not troubled with doubts and are willing to do most anything. So our definition means the slightest thing given will be exploited without hesitation or doubt. Basically, taken advantage of.
https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/173744?rskey=1Rmka9&result=2#eid
But as I alluded to earlier, give an inch and they’ll take a mile wasn’t the original usage of this phrase. And my reason for doing this episode is because of our top patron, Mary Halsig Lopez. She recently asked about the phrase, Give them an inch and he’ll take an ell. That is E-L-L. I knew that ell was an obsolete unit of measurement, equally roughly 45 inches. I can’t remember what I’m supposed to do for work tomorrow, but I have that stuck in my brain folds. Anyway, I didn’t realize that ell was used before mile in this phrase. Back to the Oxford English Dictionary for the definition of ELL.
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A measure of length varying in different countries. The English ell = 45 in.; the Scotch = 37·2; the Flemish = 27 in. Now historical or with reference to foreign countries, the English measure being obsolete.
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An ell in this way has been used since the 1000s when it appeared in the West Saxon Gospels. I won’t attempt to read the phrase since Old English is basically a different language.
The Oxford English Dictionary has examples of this one, too. Here’s a quick definition, which is probably a better way to have defined our phrase as it is used today.
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Contrasted with inch, span, etc.; esp. in proverbial phrase, give him an inch and he'll take an ell: meaning that undue advantage will be taken of a slight concession.
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This one has been around for a long time as well. The first attestation from the Oxford English Dictionary is from another dictionary in 1546. This is by John Heywood and is titled A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the englishe tongue · 1st edition.
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Ye lyked..better an ynche of your wyll, Than an ell of your thrifte.
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While not the same syntax as our current phrase, it is one of the first instances I could find ell being used figuratively and in contrast with an inch. And it wasn’t long before we were seeing things begin to follow the syntax, like this early version from 1580 in Humfrey Gifford’s “A posie of gilloflowers”
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Whereas shee tooke an inche of liberty before, tooke an Ell afterwardes.
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Here’s another from 1860 in
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One more for this version, this one from 1916 out of the Friend’s Intelligencer. It was written by William C. Allen who had been studying compulsory military training in schools.
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One more for this version, and this is from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis in 1952. It was adapted from radio talks made between 1941 and 1944. This one is actually the reason we are doing this phrase, because our Patron Mary was recently listening to this book and sent the phrase our way.
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I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they
started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie; if you gave them an inch they took an ell.
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As we just mentioned, this version of the phrase continued on into the 1900s. And though it is largely out of favor now, I did see a few instances of it still being used.
As for our phrase today, with mile instead of ell, we began seeing it in the early 1800s. So the two were used at the same time for over 100 years. There was also just the first part of the phrase used, to give an inch, meaning to concede something. Though in every usage I found, it was in the negative of that, meaning they would not give an inch or they refused to give an inch. We’ll explore more on that in our behind the scenes video available to all Patrons at any level. Join them at patreon.com/bunnytrailspod.
Moving to take a mile, In the Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, we see an October 8, 1837 usage of the phrase when speaking about a young southerner whom he called “a spoiled child with graceful manners”.
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Treat them with great deference, as we often do, and they accept it all as their due without misgiving. Give them an inch, and they take a mile. They are mere bladders of conceit.
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This quote from Emerson in 1837 was the first time we saw it in print. He was an eloquent writer, so it is possible he coined this version of the phrase.
And one from 1846,
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Next up is from an article in The Bridgemen’s magazine, which was the periodical of choice for the International Association of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Iron Workers. This is from a letter to the editor by A.D.Clark from Indianapolis Local No. 22 dated December 22, 1903.
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