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Stick to your ribs

Posted by ESC on September 23, 2010 at 23:57

In Reply to: Stick to your ribs posted by Victoria S Dennis on September 23, 2010 at 16:44:

: : Does anyone know the origin of the expression "stick to your ribs"?

: It's a folk saying, expressing the idea that a meal or a foodstuff makes your stomach feel full for a long time after eating it. It isn't a quotation from anybody famous. (VSD)

The phrase -- meaning filling and satisfying, enjoying one's food -- goes back to at least 1603: "Some one...that offred her such Kindnes as sticks by her ribs a good while after." Wilson, The Bachelor Banquet. "Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches," second edition, edited by Christine Ammer, Checkmark Books, New York, 2006. Page 410.

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