Sauce for the goose...

Posted by ESC on April 05, 2003

In Reply to: Goose and gander posted by rur42 on April 04, 2003

: No but......
: What is sauce for the goose may be sauce for the gander but is not necessarily sauce for the chicken, the duck, the turkey or the guinea hen.
: ATTRIBUTION: The Alice B Toklas Cookbook

:
: : Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "What is good for the goose is good for the gander." Its meaning seems obvious to me, but I can find nothing on its origin.

SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE IS SAUCE FOR THE GANDER - " 'Goose' and 'gander' here stand for women and men generally, and accordingly the proverb declares that what is good for a woman is also good for a man. An earlier saying based on the same logic, 'As well for the coowe as for the bull,' appeared in John Heywood's 'A Dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue' , and the first rendering of the current saying was recorded in John Ray's 'A collection of English Proverbs' as 'That that's good sawce for a goose, is good for a gander.' Ray added a further explanation: 'This is a woman's proverb.' The English writer Roger L'Estrange gave virtually the modern version in his translation of 'Aesop's Fables' , quoting it as 'Sauce for a Goose is Sauce for a Gander'." From Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New; by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).