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shameless pleading

 

 

 

 

Fine-feathered friend

Just don’t ever moult.

Dear Word Detective: I saw this on Ken Jenning’s website (www.ken-jennings.com) — he was looking for the origin of a phrase in his blog:

Etymology help! In an Eric Rohmer short story I was reading last night, some French expression had been translated as “my fine-feathered friend.” That’s right, with the hyphen. So my whole life, I’ve been assuming that a “fine feathered friend” is one who is both fine and feathered. Could it be that the hyphen is actually correct, and the expression is limited to a friend with fine feathers (i.e., not coarse ones)? The Web has been little help here: Google Book Search shows more hits for no-hyphen, but many of the hyphenated examples are older, more literary, or otherwise seem more likely to be correct. The expression goes back at least to “My Fine Feathered Friend” (no hyphen), an ornithologically themed 1937 standard later made a hit by Glenn Miller, but did the phrase pre-date the song? And did it originate as a way to refer to birds, or humans? In other words, what’s it for? –Anonymous.

Yikes. I went to look for the lyrics to “My Fine Feathered Friend,” but nearly every site I found prompted a warning from Google about the site being a menace to my computer. Evidently lyrics sites are a major source of spyware and the like. Anyway, the lyrics are purportedly birdy but obviously applicable to humans as well: “I’ll make just one request, my sweet chickadee, Don’t find some cuckoo’s nest and fly out on me, We do belong together, what do you intend? You’ve got me up a tree, my fine feathered friend.”

“Fine-feathered,” with a hyphen, was definitely the original form, and its first known appearance predates Glenn Miller’s recording by nearly 200 years, occurring in Robert Patlock’s decidedly odd 1751 novel “The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins.” Patlock’s story is the tale of a traveler, reminiscent of Swift’s Gulliver, who wanders into an underground world inhabited by flying people, one of whom he marries. While I don’t have a copy of the book, it seems probable that “fine-feathered friend” is used in reference to this bird-woman, Youwarkee, and, given that this hyphenated form seems to be the original, the “fine” would refer to the “feathers” and not the “friend.”

It also seems likely that he meant “fine” in the sense of “beautiful” rather than simply “not coarse.” There was also, at the time, a popular proverb, “Fine feathers make fine birds” (meaning that good clothes “make” the person), which undoubtedly influenced Patlock and makes his use of the phrase (if indeed in praise of his flying fiancee) a nicely done pun.

So, to sum up, “fine-feathered friend” seems to have been, all along, a compliment to humans by allusion to a bird with beautiful plumage. The loss of the hyphen over time has simply clouded a very nice metaphor.

10 comments to Fine-feathered friend

  • Tal Streeter

    I grew up thinking that this phrase described birds as our “fine-feathered friends” and riled against the horribly human reality reading in High School, Darwin’s description in Voyage of the Beagle: arriving on the Galapagos, the sailors at first laughing at the “tame” birds landing on the handles of their drinking cups, then killing them. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have these fine-feathered creatures as our friends. I’m going to continue a bit longer with my long-held misreading of the phrase. I very much appreciate having access to this site. And Robert Patlock’s book—something to look into!

  • julian sf

    oftentimes, i think popular usage of certain terms points to a meaning of many expressions whose origins have been lost in time.

    my mother was born and raised in new england in the early 1900’s. her english was pure colloquial language inasmuch as she had little formal education. however, she spoke a refinely accented version that probably originated in east anglia at the time of the pilgrim migration. i can remember her using the expression “my fine-feathered friend” to convey someone who was putting on a front (fine feathers) and acting in an inappropriately grand manner. this meaning fits with the usage in popular songs and the tom and jerry cartoon of 1942 where there is a bit of sarcasm and double entendre intended. when she directed the expression toward my brother or me, we knew she was saying, “and who do you think you are, my fine-feathered friend?”

  • I have been told that this phrase referred to the plumage worn by the wealthy back in the 1400-1500’s. I do not know but it seems likely.

  • Cshizzle

    I always thought a fine feathered friend was someone who only liked you if things were going your way. I think a modern equivalent would be a combination of a “suck-up” and a “fair-weather fan”.

  • Reada Gundreda

    Cshizzle, a “fair weather” friend is one who only likes you if things are going your way–if you’re in a halcyon life phase of smooth sailing, experiencing “fair weather” good fortune, not troubles.

  • Reada Gundreda

    Whereas “fine feathered” just means well dressed, plumage now just bird metaphorical.

  • Richmond Patterson

    I use the term when addressing my certain group of friends who have a lot in common. Like “birds of a feather flock
    together.” However, I sometimes get some quizzical stares/looks. But my particular group or flock have never chirped any objections.

  • I think the author in question is Robert Paltock, not Patlock. At any rate, that’s what Wikipedia has: (Robert Paltock).

  • The book is Ka href=”https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51967/51967-h/51967-h.htm”>available online from Project Gutenberg. I found the phrase “fine-feathered creature,” but not “fine-feathered friend.”

  • This blog entry has a plausible quote from the Lancaster Gazette in 1873, referring to people with expensive clothes. There is no hyphen, and “friends” is in sarcastic quotes. The meaning appears to me to let “fine” modify “feathered” rather than “friends,” but either interpretation makes sense.

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