What is the origin the phrase "Here''s mud in your eye"? | Notes and Queries


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SEMANTIC ENIGMAS

What is the origin the phrase "Here's mud in your eye"?

Philip Davies, London

  • No answer for that one per se, but it may have something to do with the expression " Do that and your name will be mud," which should be spelled Mudd, as in the name of the doctor who treated John Wilkes Boothe, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, for a bullet wound.

    Liane Acito Khan, Strasbourg, France

  • There are lots of phrases and sayings which have come from horses. "Mud in your eye" comes from riding quickly ahead of someone and the mud flung from the horse's hooves. "Wild goose chase", "tight rein", "champing at the bit" and "bit between the teeth" are examples, but there are many more.

    Liz Bolt, Brighton Britain

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