Pips squeak

Posted by Bruce Kahl on September 22, 2004

In Reply to: Pips squeak posted by Bookworm on September 22, 2004

: : : CRANK ON THE CIDER PRESS - Kentucky teachers and school employees are protesting higher costs and eroded benefits of the new health insurance plans negotiated by the governor. The governor has called a special session of the legislature to address the issue. State Representative Charlie Hoffman commented on actions of the group: "You all have twisted the crank on the cider press a couple of times and maybe some juice will come out." From "Scott school employees go to lawmakers' homes" by Greg Kocher, Lexington Herald-Leader, September 22, 2004.

: : Puts me in mind of another quotation;
: : We will get everything out of her that you can squeeze out of a lemon and a bit more.... I will squeeze her until you can hear the pips squeak. My only doubt is not whether we can squeeze hard enough, but whether there is enough juice.
: : Said of German war reparations following World War I by Sir Eric Geddes (1875-1937), British Conservative politician, in December 1918 at the Guildhall, Cambridge, England.

: : It was re-used by Denis Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on presenting budget to Parliament in May 1978;
: : [It will] squeeze the rich until the pips squeak.

: How did a "pip squeak" come to mean a small person? Perhaps the squeak sounded like it came from a small animal?

Maybe from the sound a chick makes as it comes out of the shell?

Main Entry: 2pip
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): pipped; pip·ping
Etymology: imitative
intransitive senses
1 : 1PEEP 1
2 : to break through the shell of the egg
transitive senses : to break open (the shell of an egg) in hatching

• Pips squeak David FG 23/September/04
• Pips squeak Lotg 23/September/04