Re: Coals
to Newcastle
Posted by ESC on May 17, 2002
In Reply to: Re: Idioms posted by ESC
on May 17, 2002
: : How to form a sentence with the idiom " carry
coals to Newcastle " ? ( "Carry coals to Newcastle " = to supply something which
is unnecessary )
: "Taking food to my grandmother's house would be like carrying
coals to Newcastle. She always has a big meal ready when her family visits."
TO
CARRY COALS TO NEWCASTLE - "The current American equivalent is 'to sell refrigerators
to the Eskimos.' The idea is of doing something that is the height of superfluity.
In explanation, Newcastle - or Newcastle upon Tyne, to use the official name of
the ancient English city - lies in the center of the great coal-mining region
of England.The saying was recorded by Heywood in 1602; as he labeled it common
even then, it may well go back a century or two earlier. Similar sayings occur
in all languages." From "2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions from
White Elephants to a Song and Dance" by Charles Earle Funk (Galahad Book, New
York, 1993).
- Re: Coals to Newcastle TheFallen
05/17/02 ( 5)
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