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The juice aint worth the squeeze

Posted by Jef on July 26, 2006

In Reply to: The juice aint worth the squeeze posted by ESC on July 02, 2006

: : Does anyone know where the phrase "the juice aint worth the squeeze" originated. Ive seen it as "isn't" however, it is mostly used using the word 'aint'. I googled it and found many thousands of references, but nothing here in the Phrase Thesaurus. Anyone know???

: Well, the first time I read it was in "Close Range: Wyoming Stories," a short story collection by Annie Proulx.

I have come across this phrase a few times in some historical texts, but I do not know the date of origin. The meaning, however, is the rewards are not worth the effort to attain them. I have seen it as a question in most instances, such as, "Are ya sure the juice is gonna be worth the squeeze?" when one man was asking about the worthiness of a marriage his brother was embarking upon. From the rest of that letter and the response, there was quite a bit of work to be done to make the inherited land worthwhile to own, and that seemed to be the primay reason to have the marriage in the first place. That was actually taken from a letter contained in the Official Records of the Civil War.

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