phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Up/down the garden path

Posted by ESC on August 20, 2000

In Reply to: Stuff'em / Lead up the garden path. posted by Bruce Kahl on August 20, 2000

: : Stuff'em has various meanings & in Australia it is
: : used in a dismissive or contemptious manner.
: : eg. If they dont like it,"stuff'em"!
: : Is it used in this context in the U.S.A.

: : Is the phrase "to lead up the garden path" understood
: : to mean "mislead"?
: : Regards
: : Russ.H.

: "Stuff 'em" when used in that context here in NYC
: is said as "f_ _ k 'em":

: F_ _ k 'em if they cant take a joke.

: In this part of the world it is said as "lead DOWN the garden path" and it also means to mislead.

From Heavens to Betsy! and Other Curious Sayings by Charles Earle Funk (Harper & Row, New York, 1955): "to lead one up (or down) the garden (or garden path) - This expression, in frequent use by English writers, has not yet gained much currency in the United States. It is relatively new, dating probably no further back than around the end of World War I. When I wrote to Sir St. Vincent Troubridge, whom I have quoted variously elsewhere, to inquire whether he could suggest a possible origin, I advanced the theory that seduction might have been the aim in the 'leading.' He did not agree with that view, though he was not able to offer anything more plausible. Nevertheless, to quote the 'Supplement to The English Oxford Dictionary,' the saying means 'to lead on - mislead,' and the earliest printed quotation that is cited in from Ethel Mannin's 'Sounding Brass' : 'They're cheats, that's wot women are! Lead you up the garden and then go snivellin' around 'cos wot's natcheral 'as 'appened to 'em.' If that doesn't imply seduction, then what does it imply? Be that as it may, current usage rarely, if ever, carries other meaning than to bamboozle, to hoax, to blarney, to pull one's leg, to deceive."

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.