Too stiff for my blood

Posted by Michael on August 13, 2008 at 21:15

In Reply to: Too stiff for my blood posted by Smokey Stover on August 11, 2008 at 14:48:

: : : Type your question here: What does the phrase "too stiff for my blood" mean?

: : The common phrase is "too rich for my blood." There are only 2 Google hits for "too stiff for my blood." It means that something is (or has become) overly expensive, unaffordable.

: RRC is entirely correct, but it may help to know that "stiff," as in "a stiff price," is sometimes used with a referent to mean expensive. With a price or charge it means high or excessive. It should not be used in the phrase "too stiff for my blood," since it lacks a suitable referent. If you say "too stiff a price for my blood," you are mixing two metaphors that don't go together.
: SS

There are many phrases using the "too .... for my blood". It's referring to one's own bloodline or lineage. It's suggesting that the item in question is outside of what the person has experienced due to how they were raised.

Typically, it's suggesting that there's nothing "wrong" with the item, but the speaker professes no interest due to how they were raised.

ie- "Too stiff for my blood" might refer to a "stiff" drink, or perhaps a reference to the highly-formal attitude of the person being discussed.