Your father wasn't a glass blower

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on March 19, 2010 at 22:55

In Reply to: Your father wasn't a glass blower posted by Julie on March 19, 2010 at 18:34:

: Where did the phrase "Where did the phrase "Your father wasn't a glass blower" originate? (meaning I can not see through you, please move.) Thank you

It's a traditional folk idiom. It was already old in 1738 when Jonathan Swift used it in his book "A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation", a satire on the banal chatter used by the high society of his day: 'Prithee, Tom, sit a little farther: I believe your father was no glazier.' (VSD)