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Thought I was on to something...

Posted by Misty on April 16, 2003

In Reply to: Thought I was on to something... posted by Bob on April 16, 2003

: : : : : : : : : : : : : I have a professor who has offered two much needed points for the student who can find the origings of the phrase "to ply with fish heads". Is there any one out there who can tell me this, I would so appreciate it.
: : : : : : : : : : : : : Misty

: : : : : : : : : : : : I couldn't find anything. Could you give us a clue or two? Is this a British, American or other phrase?

: : : : : : : : : : : I honestly have no idea

: : : : : : : : : : www.google.com gives precisely zero hits for both +ply +"with fishheads" and +ply +"with fish heads". On that basis I suspect that your professor has either been drinking or that he's being sneaky and has re-rendered the phrase into a cryptic form. However, if the latter is true, I can't see what the original might have been. I hope you keep us informed once the prof has revealed the answer.

: : : : : : : : : : As one would entice a mouse with cheese, so one would ply a cat with fisheads, a form of bribery or coersion. Once the fish was eaten, the remains, head, tail and bones were usually thrown to the cat.My dear old Irish grandmother used to say this. Of course, she also told me "Go whistle your ducks to water," which still begs explaining.

: : : : : : : : I didn't find anything specific on "ply with fishheads", but I did find a couple of sites which seem to indicate that sending someone fishheads instead of flowers as an expression of being unhappy with them in some way could give rise to such an expression... Here are a couple of links.

: : : : : : : : fishheads.diaryland.com
: : : : : : : : www.senddeadfish.com

Sorry guys evidiently he does not know the origin of the saying either and that is why he asked us to find it!!!!!!

: : : : : : : I toyed with the idea that the phrase might be literally. Actually trying to attract something (other fish, cats, etc.) with fish heads.

: : : : : : Perhaps it's the bait for a wild goose chase....

: : : : : You have such a way with words.

: : : : FISH HEADS
: : : : By Barnes & Barnes

: : : : (Chorus and first verse)

: : : : Fish heads fish heads
: : : : Roly poly fish heads
: : : : fish heads fish heads
: : : : eat them up, yum!

: : : : In the morning, laughing happy fishheads,
: : : : In the evening, floating in the soup.

: : : It occurred to me that fans of Phish call themselves Phish Heads, so I chased that all over Google and came up dry. There's another band, The Radiators, from New Orleans, whose fans call themselves Fish Heads (no accounting for self-deprecation) and I looked through all 20 (!) of their CDs for a song title, but no luck there either. I guess I'll never get the 2 points extra credit, but can I get an E for ... futility?

: : I REALLY hope that Misty will tell us the answer that her professor supplies - I can't wait!!

: Misty, ply for me?

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