Hay if for horses, better for cows, pigs don't eat it 'cause they don't know how!
History, usages, anything about this phrase that I obnoxiously repeat each time people "HEY!" me.
Hay is for horses, better for cows...
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- Lexiterian
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Hay is for horses, better for cows...
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
I found this
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
And grass is for free.
If you marry the farmer's daughter
Then you'll get all three
but it doesn't scan.
Another version that scans better
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
Grass ain't free.
Go to a farm
You can get all three
Another version with better logic
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
Grass is free.
Buy a farm
Get all three
Maybe one of these will jiggle your memory.
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
And grass is for free.
If you marry the farmer's daughter
Then you'll get all three
but it doesn't scan.
Another version that scans better
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
Grass ain't free.
Go to a farm
You can get all three
Another version with better logic
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
Grass is free.
Buy a farm
Get all three
Maybe one of these will jiggle your memory.
- Slava
- Great Grand Panjandrum
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- Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
- Location: Finger Lakes, NY
Thanks for these Mr. Tokyo. Both work well, though in the first I'd switch the ain't for is and drop the can in the last line. Then again, that's pretty much what the last one is, innit?
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
Grass ain't free.
Go to a farm
You can get all three
Another version with better logic
Hay is for horses
Straw is cheaper
Grass is free.
Buy a farm
Get all three
Maybe one of these will jiggle your memory.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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- Location: Crownsville, MD
I went a-searching and found a Yahoo! Answers entry that I rather like:
Another find:
and a Wikipedia Reference Desk article which has these gems:Hay is for horses but cows eat it to.
If you don't be quiet I'll feed some to you.
I kind of like that last one.I never heard the extension "and grass is cheaper". My mother always said "hay is for horses" as a way of reminding us children to be more polite when getting someone's attention than saying simply "Hey!"
...
"Hay for horses" is also the first line of the Cockney alphabet. See here.
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"Hay is for horses, straw is for cows, milk is for little pigs, and wash for old sows" is at least Victorian and probably much older whilst the "Hay is for horses" response to "Hey" is recorded by Jonathan Swift
...
I came from the west coast and we simply said "Hay is for horses, aren't you glad you're a pig."
Another find:
And another Yahoo! Answer:This idiom is used as a way of telling children not to say the word 'hey' as in hey you or hey there.
Now with this entry the longer rhymes begin make sense as an obligatory back-and-forth dialog:Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
It's not a riddle. I used to hear this all the time when I was younger. Whenever I said "Hey," someone would say to me "Hay is for horses." To which I would reply (smart*** that I was), "True, but grass is cheaper." I never did know when to stop talking. Oh well. Live and learn.
From somone's blog:Me: "Hey, you!"
You: "Hay is for horses!"
Me: "True, but straw is cheaper!"
You: "Yeah, but grass is free!"
Me: "Well then go buy a farm and get all three!"
A reply to a post:Hay is for Horses, better for Cows, Pigs don't eat it, 'cause they don't know how.
My brother taught me that when I was little and I always remember the time we sat there going over it again and again until I got it right. I love saying it to this day because it brings back those warm memories.
Finding other sources is left as an exercise for the student.“Hay is for horses not for cows that’s why you have big eyebrows”.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 4426
- Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
- Location: Land of the Flat Water
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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- Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
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