As rare as hens teeth

Posted by JohnWW on May 16, 2009 at 22:14

In Reply to: As rare as hens teeth posted by Victoria S Dennis on April 30, 2009 at 07:28:

: : : : I've 2 phrases that that I'm curious about in regards to use and origin

: : : : Rare as hens teeth... and... For love nor money. Any ideas?

: : : scarcer than hen's teeth -- Hen's don't have teeth. One reference says it is an Americanism that probably goes back to colonial days but was first recorded in 1862. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997). Page 595. cut)

Modern-day birds do not have teeth, except that some species with serrations on the edges of their beaks have what are effective substitutes for teeth. The earliest species of birds, in the Cretaceous, starting with the archaeopteryx about 120 million years ago, and in the early Tertiary especially some sea-birds from about 65 to 50 million years ago, had true teeth, found in their fossilized remains. So birds' teeth are therefore rare or scarce, but are not totally unknown.