A chip off the old block

Posted by ESC on December 19, 2002

In Reply to: A chip off the old block posted by jim on December 18, 2002

: Can you tell me how/when this phrase originated please?
: Thank you, Saxon

A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK -- "A son who is like his father. Once it was 'chip of the old block,' The 'block' was either wood or stone; in either case, a chip would have the same characteristics as the block. In a slightly different form the expression was in print by 1626 in the play 'Dick of Devonshire': 'Why may not I be a Chipp of the same blocke out of which you two were cutt?'" From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).