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Pips squeak

Posted by Lotg on September 23, 2004

In Reply to: Pips squeak posted by Bruce Kahl on September 22, 2004

: : : : CRANK ON THE CIDER PRESS - Kentucky teachers and school employees are protesting higher costs and eroded benefits of the new health insurance plans negotiated by the governor. The governor has called a special session of the legislature to address the issue. State Representative Charlie Hoffman commented on actions of the group: "You all have twisted the crank on the cider press a couple of times and maybe some juice will come out." From "Scott school employees go to lawmakers' homes" by Greg Kocher, Lexington Herald-Leader, September 22, 2004.

: : : Puts me in mind of another quotation;
: : : We will get everything out of her that you can squeeze out of a lemon and a bit more.... I will squeeze her until you can hear the pips squeak. My only doubt is not whether we can squeeze hard enough, but whether there is enough juice.
: : : Said of German war reparations following World War I by Sir Eric Geddes (1875-1937), British Conservative politician, in December 1918 at the Guildhall, Cambridge, England.

: : : It was re-used by Denis Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on presenting budget to Parliament in May 1978;
: : : [It will] squeeze the rich until the pips squeak.

: : How did a "pip squeak" come to mean a small person? Perhaps the squeak sounded like it came from a small animal?

: Maybe from the sound a chick makes as it comes out of the shell?

: Main Entry: 2pip
: Function: verb
: Inflected Form(s): pipped; pip·ping
: Etymology: imitative
: intransitive senses
: 1 : 1PEEP 1
: 2 : to break through the shell of the egg
: transitive senses : to break open (the shell of an egg) in hatching

What's sort of funny (or sad) to me is that ESC is describing precisely the same issues being raised in our imminent election. Hmmmm... we none of us are very original are we???

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