Feed a cold and starve a fever

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on June 02, 2009 at 21:24

In Reply to: Feed a cold and starve a fever posted by David FG on June 02, 2009 at 19:47:

: : : : Coming from the North of England I was brought up to believe that the phrase "Feed a cold, starve a fever" was indeed a misquotation, but not quite as your explanation goes. We would say "feed a cold, starve of fever!" It sounds the same if you say it quickly. In other words, if you behave so as to make a cold worse, you may catch a fever and starve: starve can mean feel cold or shiver, as in the expression: "you look half-starved, lad" when someone comes in out of the cold. So I conclude that the saying has nothing to do with food or eating, just good advice. Any thoughts?

: : : To get the discussion ball rolling, here is what was posted previously. www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 6 messages 418.html

: : Hmmm... interesting. Everyone I've ever talked to thought it meant "If you have a cold, you should eat. If you have a fever, you shouldn't eat." If the fever ran out of fuel, it would break.
: : I've never heard this "If you eat while you have a cold, you'll get a fever and then starve." That seems easily disprovable. Is there some specific disease that works like that - you're sick with no fever, then you get a fever, then you starve?
: : I've also never heard "half-starved" to mean anything but skinny or hungry.

: To touch on the last of those points, very briefly: I am Irish, and it is not uncommon in Ireland to hear the phrase 'starved with cold' and the like.

: DFG

"Starve" in English originally simply meant "die" (Old English "steorfan", cognate with modern German "sterben"). The meaning gradually mutated to "die a lingering death, e.g. from hunger, cold, poison, etc." and finally, in standard English, was restricted to "die of hunger" only. The intervening sense survives in several dialects, so that in Yorkshire and Northern Ireland you can "look starved with cold". (VSD)

• Feed a cold and starve a fever Smokey Stover 03/June/09
  • Feed a cold and starve a fever ESC 04/June/09