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Origin of Phrases - B
Bread is buttered
Meaning: A person or place that has the potential to enrich.
Example: When her boss says jump, she says "how high", only because she knows where her bread is buttered.
Origin: The actual phrase is "knows which side her bread is buttered on." It is a reference to a Yiddish folk tale of the Wise men of Chelm.
In the tale, Chelm was a city in Poland where the people were incredibly stupid. One day someone dropped a piece of bread; it landed butter side up! Experience and Murphy's law tells us bread always falls buttered side down, the wise men of Chelm gathered to ponder why the bread landed buttered side up.
After a week the verdict was that the bread had been buttered on the wrong side.
Alternatively,
Dry bread can be pretty boring to eat. Bread is much tastier with some kind of spread - butter, jam, etc. Hence the person or place that provides your spread can enrich the bread eating experience.
Origin: A reference to Odysseus' dilemma of passing between Scylla and Charybdis (figuratively a rock and a hard place). Scylla was a monster on the cliffs and Charydbis was a dangerous whirlpool. Neither fate was more attractive as both were difficult to overcome.
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