Meaning:
A much vaunted discovery, which later turns out to be illusory or worthless.
Background:
There are two unrelated meanings of `mare's nest' in circulation, and there's
little to connect them. The first, and `proper' meaning, has it that finding
a mare's nest is imagining that one has found something remarkable when in
fact one has found nothing of the sort. The second meaning, which is more
widespread today, is that a mare's nest is a confused mess.
The earlier `misconception' meaning has been in use since at least the 16th
century, when Robert Peterson published a version of the Italian John Della
Casa's Galateo. This was `done into English', that is, translated, by
Peterson in 1576:
Nor Stare in a mans face, as if he had spied a mares nest.
Animals are often alluded to in phrases of this sort, for example, lion's
share, dog's breakfast, bird's-eye view etc. Of course, this one is
different, in that mares don't make nests - the allusion was meant to be
comically ironic. That humour is reflected in several of the early citations
of `mare's nest' (or horse's nest, as some early references have it), which
refer directly to laughter, for example, John Fletcher's Jacobean tragedy
Bonduca, circa. 1613
Why dost thou laugh? What Mares nest hast thou found?
The joke was pushed further by Dr. [Jonathan] Swift, in the play
Miscellanies, 1751:
What! Have you found a mare's nest, and laugh at the eggs?
Back to the second, `muddle' meaning, which didn't begin to be used until the
mid-19th century. It appears to have come into being as the result of a
simple misunderstanding. To someone who was unfamiliar with the original
meaning, and that meaning is hardly intuitive, `a mare's nest' would seem
very much like the earlier 19th century phrase `a rat's nest'. In reality,
rats make rather neat nests, but the phrase was certainly meant to mean a
disordered tangle (see also haywire) and the currently widespread meaning of
`mare's nest' was copied from that.
The transition from the earlier meaning to the later one was gradual and
appears to have been well underway by the 1920s, when Agatha Christie wrote
The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Christie managed there to use both meanings
in the same story:
a misunderstanding:
"In my opinion the whole thing is a mare's nest of Bauerstein's! ...
Bauerstein's got a bee in his bonnet. Poisons are his hobby, so of
course he sees them everywhere."
and, a muddle: "A pretty mare's nest arresting him would have been."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My best friend from my Beijing days, Mike, succombed to colon cancer after two
years' fighting. On my last visit, all my buddy could manage was a short walk
over a few blocks in his quiet pricy neighborhood. At Mike's funeral, a lot was
said about his achievements at work. People talked about what a good engineer he
was and how much he contributed to his employer's wealth of patents. He was
dearly missed as a loving father, son, and husband. No one mentioned, however,
the importance of diet, good sleep, or physical exercise.
The first half of my life, I was told the same story: work hard, get promoted,
make money, and buy the dream house, the fast car, etc. I was not that smart in
the first place but more importantly, events in my early 40s, including Mike's
passing, raised doubts and made me wonder if it was only a mare's nest I was
chasing.
Meaning:
A much vaunted discovery, which later turns out to be illusory or worthless.
Background:
There are two unrelated meanings of `mare's nest' in circulation, and there's
little to connect them. The first, and `proper' meaning, has it that finding
a mare's nest is imagining that one has found something remarkable when in
fact one has found nothing of the sort. The second meaning, which is more
widespread today, is that a mare's nest is a confused mess.
The earlier `misconception' meaning has been in use since at least the 16th
century, when Robert Peterson published a version of the Italian John Della
Casa's Galateo. This was `done into English', that is, translated, by
Peterson in 1576:
Nor Stare in a mans face, as if he had spied a mares nest.
Animals are often alluded to in phrases of this sort, for example, lion's
share, dog's breakfast, bird's-eye view etc. Of course, this one is
different, in that mares don't make nests - the allusion was meant to be
comically ironic. That humour is reflected in several of the early citations
of `mare's nest' (or horse's nest, as some early references have it), which
refer directly to laughter, for example, John Fletcher's Jacobean tragedy
Bonduca, circa. 1613
Why dost thou laugh? What Mares nest hast thou found?
The joke was pushed further by Dr. [Jonathan] Swift, in the play
Miscellanies, 1751:
What! Have you found a mare's nest, and laugh at the eggs?
Back to the second, `muddle' meaning, which didn't begin to be used until the
mid-19th century. It appears to have come into being as the result of a
simple misunderstanding. To someone who was unfamiliar with the original
meaning, and that meaning is hardly intuitive, `a mare's nest' would seem
very much like the earlier 19th century phrase `a rat's nest'. In reality,
rats make rather neat nests, but the phrase was certainly meant to mean a
disordered tangle (see also haywire) and the currently widespread meaning of
`mare's nest' was copied from that.
The transition from the earlier meaning to the later one was gradual and
appears to have been well underway by the 1920s, when Agatha Christie wrote
The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Christie managed there to use both meanings
in the same story:
a misunderstanding:
"In my opinion the whole thing is a mare's nest of Bauerstein's! ...
Bauerstein's got a bee in his bonnet. Poisons are his hobby, so of
course he sees them everywhere."
and, a muddle: "A pretty mare's nest arresting him would have been."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My best friend from my Beijing days, Mike, succombed to colon cancer after two
years' fighting. On my last visit, all my buddy could manage was a short walk
over a few blocks in his quiet pricy neighborhood. At Mike's funeral, a lot was
said about his achievements at work. People talked about what a good engineer he
was and how much he contributed to his employer's wealth of patents. He was
dearly missed as a loving father, son, and husband. No one mentioned, however,
the importance of diet, good sleep, or physical exercise.
The first half of my life, I was told the same story: work hard, get promoted,
make money, and buy the dream house, the fast car, etc. I was not that smart in
the first place but more importantly, events in my early 40s, including Mike's
passing, raised doubts and made me wonder if it was only a mare's nest I was
chasing.