You are a peach...

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on November 23, 2009 at 19:08

In Reply to: You are a peach... posted by Luis Beal on November 23, 2009 at 12:44:

: "You are a peach and a half". Where did that come from?

"And a half" is a standard idiom which has been used to mean "and then some; exceptionally so" since the early 19th century. The Oxford English dictionary lists as examples:
- 1832 : Bushfield, too, was . not only a whole team, but a team and a half.
- 1837 : I rayther think the gov'ner vants to have a vord and a half vith you
- 1911: Last night was paradise and a half.
- 1917: Golly! He took a toss and a half!
- 1959: Roaring Rory must have been a hell-raiser and a half in his day.
Peaches are, as everybody knows, wondeful fruits, and "peach" has been used colloquially in the figurative sense "A particularly fine or desirable person or thing, esp. an attractive young woman; an exceptionally good example of its kind" since at least 1710. (VSD)

• You are a peach... ESC 23/November/09