How long is a piece of string
How long is a piece of string
How long is a piece of string?
I use the phrase
How long is a piece of string
every now and then, usually when somebody asks me when I’ll finish some programming task that I haven’t even looked into yet.
I know what it means:
English
Phrase
How long is a piece of string?
1. (colloquial, often humorous) Used as a response to a question such as «How long will it take?» or «How big is it?» when the length or size is unknown, infinite, or variable.
-How long is a piece of string?, Wiktionary.
But I’d like to know what is the origin of this phrase?
Why is it used to denote an unknown size, length or time? As in, what is it about the string that makes it supposedly hard or impossible to measure?
2 Answers 2
Ngram indicates that the phrase is relatively recent, at least as recent as the 19th century.
The earliest use I could find either in books or periodicals is from 1885. I have no reason to believe this is the first use, apart from being the earliest citation I can personally find, but the use in this article has quite a bit of context in the explanation.
The growth in popularity in the early 1900’s, indicated by the spike around 1920 on the Ngram graph, could be a result of a rather prominent and widely reported use of the phrase by US Secretary of War Lindley Garrison in 1913. One of various similar reports on that quote was retrieved here. This particular use also does a good job explaining what the phrase means; Nobody knows the answer to «how long is a piece of string» without further context, just as Sec. Garrison claimed to need to know more before answering a question about his policy in the Philippines.
word histories
Of American-English origin, the phrase how long is a piece of string? is a response to a question that cannot be answered precisely, although a precise answer seems to be expected.
—Cf. also the phrases:
– time flies? you cannot: they go too fast
– silent like the ‘p’ in swimming
– why is a mouse when it spins? because the higher the fewer
These are the earliest occurrences of the phrase how long is a piece of string? that I have found, in chronological order:
1-: From The Lawrence Daily Journal (Lawrence, Kansas) of Tuesday 1 st September 1885:
Correspondence of the New York Sun.
“How long does it take an orange grove to come into bearing?” The question was asked by a northern man in an earnest, deliberate way, that was intended to evoke a candid reply from the orange grower to whom it was put.
“How long is a piece of string?” returned the orange grower.
If he had been disposed to attempt an answer he might have said truthfully that an oronge [sic] grove will “come into bearing” in from six months to 15 or 20 years from the time of starting it, and that whether the interval is half a year or a fifth of a century depends almost wholly upon the wish of the owner.
2-: From The Railway Age (Chicago: The Railway Age Publishing Company) of Friday 3 rd February 1888:
How much does it cost a mile to build a railway? This is an extremely indefinite question, and yet, in substance, it is repeatedly propounded as a matter of mere curiosity. How large is a piece of coal, and how long is a piece of string, would be fully as sensible questions as to ask the cost of a mile of railway where the topography of the line, character of work to be done, number and kind of bridges, weight of rail, number of ties per mile, and numerous other considerations are not specified.
3-: From the Linn County Clarion (Mound City, Kansas) of Friday 9 th March 1888:
A correspondent from Wall Street writes the Clarion to know “when men will cease lying.” Dear questioner, how long is a piece of string?
4-: From The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana) of Friday 27 th November 1891—quoting The Mirror and Farmer (Manchester, New Hampshire):
How often do we hear the question asked: “How much does it cost to produce a pound of milk?” It is like asking: “How long is a piece of string?” As strings vary in length, so milk varies in cost.
5-: From Annual Reports of the Dairymen’s and Creameries’ Associations of the Province of Ontario 1892 (Toronto: Printed by Warwick & Sons for the Ontario Department of Agriculture, 1893):
A Member: How many tons do you get to the acre?
Mr. Gould: Well, how long is a piece of string? Your question is a perfectly fair one, but under no system of agriculture can a man be sure of raising so much per acre. If we get sixteen to eighteen tons of good ensilage corn per acre we are satisfied.
6-: From the column Varieties, published in the Columbus Evening Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) of Friday 19 th July 1895:
New York is wrestling with the question, “What constitutes a meal?” It would be almost as wise to discuss, “How long is a piece of string?” Two unknown quantities figure in the problem—the amount of ready cash and the state of the person’s appetite.
Various jocular replies to how long is a piece of string? have been made up, in particular twice the length from the middle to the end and variants.
For example, the following is from the column The Other Fellow, by Ad Schuster, published in the Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) of Thursday 21 st March 1935:
In the Farm Credit Administration applicants lined up for jobs and were given tests of a kind which some find so delightful.
“How long is a piece of string?” was one question. And another: “How far can a dog run in the woods?”
Now, the cute little trick is that you are supposed to write down “no answer,” and if you do anything else you miss.
But there was one fellow who replied, “a piece of string is twice as long as the distance from the center to either end”; and, “a dog can run only half way into the woods; after that he is running out.”
We don’t know whether this man got the job he was after or not, but we think he should have the one held by the expert who was asking the foolish questions.
The same joke occurs in Mutt and Jeff, a comic strip by Al Smith (Albert Schmidt – 1902-1986), published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) of Wednesday 28 th April 1937:
Jeff Unbuttons a Couple of Wise Cracks
Think I’ll have some fun with the little dumbbell – I’ll ask him some trick questions that nobody can answer!
Jeff, you’re a pretty smart guy – How long is a piece of string?
How long is a piece of string?
A piece of string is twice the length of that part between the center and either end!
a piece of string
1 piece of string
2 (a) piece of string
3 a piece of string
4 stout piece of string
5 a stout piece of string
6 an one-dimensional surface may be exemplified by a piece of string
7 child trailed his toy cart on a piece of string
8 one-dimensional surface may be exemplified by a piece of string
9 the child trailed his toy cart on a piece of string
10 a stout piece of string
11 string
How long will your mother-in-law be staying with you? How long is a piece of string? — Как долго тёща пробудет у вас? Кто знает!;
How long will you be in Russia? How long is a piece of string? — Как долго Вы будете в России? Это никому не известно.
To have more than one string to one’s bow (иметь больше чем одну тетиву в луке) значит иметь ещё одну профессию. Имеется в виду обычай, согласно которому лучники всегда имеют с собой запасную тетиву на непредвиденный случай:
Joan has many strings to her bow. Before she embarked on a career in interior design she studied statistics and computer science. — Джоан — очень разносторонний человек. Перед тем как начать свою карьеру по дизайну интерьеров, она изучала статистику и кибернетику.
To string along with someone значит сопровождать кого-либо. Но to string someone along значит обманывать, давать лживые обещания:
John promised to marry Mary, but he is just stringing her along. — Джон обещал жениться на Мэри, но он лишь водит её за нос.
Фраза with no strings attached означает свободный от условий, ясный, прямой:
You cannot expect the West to offer money to Russia with no strings attached. There are always preconditions, agreements about what Russia has to do in return. — Нельзя думать, что Запад предложит деньги России без каких-либо условий. Всегда существуют предварительные договорённости и соглашения о том, что Россия должна предоставить взамен.
12 string
13 string
I want some string to tie up these books. — Мне нужна веревка, чтобы связать эти книги.
Pictures hang on strings. — Картины висят на веревках.
They filed in a long string. — Они шли длинной узкой колонной.
I had a string of questions to ask him. — Я хотел задать ему целый ряд вопросов.
He tied/attached no strings to his offer. — Его предложение не было связано ни с какими условиями/ограничениями.
14 piece
the statue was in pieces — статуя была разбита на мелкие кусочки; б) расколовшийся; полный противоречий
to pieces — на части; вдребезги
to pull to pieces — разорвать на мелкие кусочки, растерзать
a piece of scoundrelism — подлая штука; гнусная проделка
hunting piece — картина, изображающая сцену охоты
crown piece — крона, монета в одну крону
to move a piece — передвинуть фигуру, сделать ход
a piece of the action — доля в афере; плата за соучастие
the cases in which pieces go astray are rare — случаи, когда багаж попадает не по адресу, доля, пай
I hate this man, he is such a forward piece — терпеть не могу этого человека, он такой наглец
a piece of change — хороший куш, кругленькая сумма
a knavish piece of work — нечестные дела, жульничество
a piece of ice — льдинка, кусочек льда
15 string piece
16 piece
17 piece
a piece of advice — один совет;
a piece of news — новость;
a piece of information — одно сообщение;
a piece of furniture — предмет мебели;
a piece of work — работа, задание;
a piece of art — произведение искусства;
a piece of music — музыкальное произведение.
(2). Отдельно взятое количество, естественно существующая часть чего-либо обозначается разными словами, выбор которых зависит от предмета или вещества, часть/частица которого обозначается. Наиболее общими словами являются существительные piece и bit, которые сочетаются со многими существительными. Ниже приведенные обороты составляют устойчивые сочетания: bacon: a slice of bacon — ломтик бекона; a chunk of bacon — большой кусок бекона; bread: a slice of bread — ломтик хлеба; a chunk of bread — ломоть, большой кусок, краюха хлеба; a loaf of bread — буханка хлеба; a crumb of bread — крошка хлеба; butter: a piece of butter — кусок масла; cabbage: a head of cabbage — кочан капусты; a shred of cabbage — кусочек/тонкая полоска шинкованной капусты; cake: a slice of cake — ломтик торта; chocolate: a bar, a square of chocolate — плитка шоколада; clouds: a bank of clouds — гряда облаков; clothes: a heap of clothes — куча/груда белья; cloth: a length of cloth — отрез ткани; cheese: a slice of cheese — ломтик сыра; coal: a lump of coal, a chunk of coal — кусок/большой кусок угля; corn: an ear of corn — колосок пшеницы; a sheaf of corn — сноп пшеницы; cotton: a wad of cotton — комок/кусок ваты; dust: a speck, a particle of dust — пылинка; a cloud of dust — туча пыли; earth: a mound, a pile of earth — куча земли; fog: a bank, a wisp — полоса тумана; patches of fog — клочья тумана; a sheet of fog — пелена тумана glass: a sliver of glass — осколок стекла; glue: a blob of glue — капля клея; grass: a blade of grass — травинка; a tuft of grass — кочка; a patch of grass — кустик, клочок травы, небольшой участок земли, поросший травой; hair: a lock of hair — локон волос; a strand of hair — прядь волос; a mop of hair — копна волос; hay: a bale of hay — тюк сена; ice: a block of ice — глыба льда, льдина; a sheet of ice — ледяное поле, полоса льда; land: a strip of land — полоска земли; a piece of land — надел, кусок земли; light: a ray (beam) of light — луч света; a shaft of light — сноп света; medicine: a doze of medicine — доза лекарства; money: a sum of money — сумма денег; paper: a sheet of paper — лист бумаги; a sheaf of paper — пачка бумаги; a slip of paper — узкий листок бумаги; a scrap of paper — клочек бумаги; potatoes: a chunk of potatoes — большая порция картофеля; rice: a grain of rice — рисовое зернышко, рисинка; rope: a length/a coil of rope — моток веревки; a piece of rope — кусок веревки; salt: a pinch of salt — щепотка соли; а grain of salt — крупинка соли; sand: a pile (a heap) of sand — куча, груда песка; a mound of sand — насыпь; a grain of sand — песчинка; smoke: a column of smoke — столб дыма; a wisp of smoke — струйка дыма; a cloud of smoke — облако дыма; a puff of smoke — клубы дыма; snow: a flake of snow — снежинка; a bank of snow — сугроб, snow-drits — снежные сугробы; soap: a bar (cake, piece) of soap — кусок мыла; stone: a pile (heap) of stones — груда камней; string: a ball of string — клубок/моток бечевки; sugar: a lump of sugar — кусок сахара; a grain of sugar — кристаллик сахара; thread: a reel of thread — катушка ниток; wood: a splinter of wood — лучинка, щепка.
Phrase of the day: How long is a piece of string?
As a coursebook writer, there’s one question about my work I dread more than all others. I’ll sometimes be at a conference, standing around on the publisher’s stand – the display space they have where they show all their books – when a teacher will come up, start flicking through one of my books and then ask ….. “How long will it take to complete this book?”
I put my corporate whore hat on – metaphorically speaking, of course – and ask how long the course they might use it on are. Ninety hours, they might tell me. Or a hundred and twenty. Or one fifty. “That”, I tell them in my most sincere and trustworthy voice, “is exactly how long the book was designed to take!” Job done!
The answer I always want to give, though, is the honest one, which is “How long is a piece of string?” Obviously, a piece of string can be as long or as short as you want it to be. It depends. And the rhetorical response is designed to make this clear to the person who asked the initial question. While what’s on the page of a coursebook obviously does have some impact on how long things take to do in class, all kinds of variables come into play as soon as the interaction between teacher, book and students begins. If you only have 90 minutes for your lesson, you’ll probably decide to run through some exercises more quickly than you would if you had three hours. You’d ask fewer questions about the language in the vocabulary exercises, reformulate student output a bit less, and maybe even skip the odd bit here and there. In essence, you tailor your class depending on the time available to you. Actually, now I come to think of it, we have written a whole series of blog posts about just that. If you missed them, start here and work forwards.
Obviously, there are many other times when I might also reach for the rhetorical question How long is a piece of string? It’s the perfect response for my kids when we’re on a day trip to the seaside and they start whining and asking how long it’ll be until we get there. In addition, you get exchanges like these:
How much does a wedding usually cost?
> Well, how long is a piece of string?
How many words do I need to write?
> How long is a piece of string?
Sadly, however, the use of such rhetoric can sometimes backfire. I remember an incident at secondary school when one of the more aggressive and less motivated members of my English class asked the stand-in English teacher who was covering for the week how long the homework needed to be. This elicited the predictable response of “How long is a piece of string?”
“Long enough to wrap round your neck, I hope” came the growled reply.
piece of string
Смотреть что такое «piece of string» в других словарях:
how long is a piece of string? — british spoken phrase used for saying that it is impossible to answer a question about how big something is or how much time something will take ‘How long does it take for a claim to be processed?’ ‘How long is a piece of string?’ Thesaurus: ways … Useful english dictionary
how long is a piece of string — see ↑string, 1 • • • Main Entry: ↑long how long is a piece of string Brit informal used as a reply to a question when the answer is not known “How long will you be staying?” “How long is a piece of string?” • • • Main Entry: ↑ … Useful english dictionary
how long is a piece of string — If someone has no idea of the answer to a question, they can ask How long is a piece of string? as a way of indicating their ignorance … The small dictionary of idiomes
how long is a piece of string — If someone has no idea of the answer to a question, they can ask How long is a piece of string? as a way of indicating their ignorance. (Dorking School Dictionary) … English Idioms & idiomatic expressions
How long is a piece of string? — British & Australian something that you say when someone asks you a question that you cannot answer about how big something is or how much time something will take. So how long does a project like that take? How long s a piece of string? … New idioms dictionary
How long is a piece of string — If someone has no idea of the answer to a question, they can ask How long is a piece of string? as a way of indicating their ignorance … Dictionary of English idioms
string — string1 W2S3 [strıŋ] n ↑sticker, ↑string ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(thread)¦ 2¦(group/series)¦ 3 no strings (attached) 4 string of pearls/lights/beads etc 5¦(music)¦ 6 first string/second string etc 7 have somebody on a string 8 have more than one string to your … Dictionary of contemporary English
string — string1 [ strıŋ ] noun *** ▸ 1 thin rope ▸ 2 group/series of things ▸ 3 on instrument ▸ 4 on tennis racket, etc. ▸ 5 something like string ▸ 6 players rated by ability ▸ 7 limiting conditions ▸ 8 G string ▸ + PHRASES 1. ) count or uncount thin… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
string — I UK [strɪŋ] / US noun Word forms string : singular string plural strings *** 1) [countable/uncountable] thin rope, usually made of twisted fibres and used for tying things together a parcel tied with string a piece of string The balloon was… … English dictionary
string — 01. Do you have a piece of [string] I could use to tie up this parcel? 02. You should tie the [string] for the baby s balloon around his wrist in case he accidentally lets go of it. 03. [String] and sequence are used interchangeably in molecular… … Grammatical examples in English
piece — piece1 W1S1 [pi:s] n ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(amount)¦ 2¦(part)¦ 3¦(single item)¦ 4¦(small amount)¦ 5¦(land)¦ 6 fall to pieces 7 go to pieces 8 smash/rip/tear something to pieces 9 pull/rip/tear somebody/something to pieces … Dictionary of contemporary English