JAN 28 2023 - Leave Well Enough Alone

 

Make things worse...that's the caution of the "Leave Well Enough Alone" expression.  It is a curious set of words in English.   "Do not try to improve matters lest you make them worse. This idea was stated in ancient Greek times. In Aesop’s fable, the fox refused the hedgehog’s offer to remove its ticks, “lest by removing these, which are full, other hungry ones will come.” There is a medieval French version of the saying, Assez est bone, lessez ester (It is good enough, let it be). An English proverb for many centuries, the phrase became the motto of Sir Robert Walpole, prime minister from 1715 to 1717 and again from 1721 to 1742. " "A slangy twentieth-century Americanism meaning the same thing is "if it ain’t broke don’t fix it." Reporting on a meeting between West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President George H.W. Bush concerning the future of NATO in view of German unification, Strobe Talbott wrote, “They both believe in the old adage, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. ’NATO has kept the peace for 40 years, and there’s no reason to believe it can’t do so for another 40.” (Time, July 2, 1990).  I think the American slang expression is different.   This seems to me to have an Americanism at its heart - the saving of money and effort and a confidence in that approach.  It does not seem to have any implication of marking something worse or ruining something.   The Free Dictionary has an entry for "ain't broke".  It is: "this folksy and deliberately ungrammatical expression dates from the mid-1900s.   The Phrase Finder says that there are reports of it existing much earlier, but was unable to find any print record before 1976.   It is Bert Lance, Jimmy Carter's advisor who gave this expression life in a 1977 issue of Nation's Business: Bert Lance believes he can save Uncle Sam billions if he can get the government to adopt a simple motto: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." He explains: "That's the trouble with government: Fixing things that aren't broken and not fixing things that are broken." And here's the "ain't broke" joke:  Normal people believe that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Engineers believe that "If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet." Today's picture is a great winter scene from a few years ago.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca