Chance your arm

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on August 12, 2009 at 18:02

In Reply to: Chance your arm posted by David FG on August 12, 2009 at 17:11:

: : Chance your arm. I believe this may be an Irish saying dating back hundreds of years. Any ideas?

: It's one theory. The story goes that there was a feud between two prominent Irish families, the Ormonds and the Kildares, in 1492. At one point, Sir James Butler, the Earl of Ormond, took refuge with his followers in St Patrick's cathedral. Gerald FitzGerald, the Earl of Kildare (and one of my ancestors, by the way) tried to make peace. To prove his intentions were honourable he cut a hole in the door and thrust his arm through. In so doing he was placing himself at the mercy of those inside, who could easily have cut it off. However, his hand was grasped by Butler and his peace overtures were accepted.

: As an explanation it makes a sort of sense, but the dates are completely wrong. The phrase, it seems, is not recorded until the 1880s which is four centuries (more or less) later than the incident which is supposed to give rise to it.

: DFG

This phrase is discussed at length in Michael Quinion's "World Wide Words", here: www.worldwidewords.org/ qa/qa-cha3.htm. He doesn't believe the Butler/Fitzgerald theory, either. (VSD)