As Passover approaches, we find out about the meaning of eggs and check out some sayings behind the beloved protein.
First thing’s first, why is the egg on the seder plate each year? The short answer is that it stands as both a symbol of mourning for the destruction of the Temple, and a symbol of hope and renewal. Eggs, being the beginning of a new life cycle for the chicken, have long been a symbol of fresh beginnings across cultures. Just don’t ask us which came first!
While the subject of whether the chicken or the egg came first is a popular philosophical question, we know that eggs came long before humans did, and we’ve been eating them for the entirety of our history. As for domesticated fowl, that came quite a bit later on. The first recorded proof of domesticated birds as livestock were jungle fowl in India in 3,200 BC. Records in China and Egypt show that fowl were domesticated and laying eggs for human consumption around 1,400 BC, while the eggheads at University of Oxford state that they weren’t domesticated in Europe until 800 BC, and not in North America until the second voyage of Columbus in 1493.
Since eggs have been around as long as we have, it’s perhaps no surprise that they’ve even ingrained themselves in our language, with a fair amount of common expressions centring around eggs. Collecting them all is a tricky task, but you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, so we’ll take a crack at it.
EGG-CELLENT SAYINGS
A good egg – a nice person.
A bad egg / a rotten egg – an unpleasant person.
To have egg on your face – to be very embarrassed because of something you said or did.
Nest egg – a sum of money saved for the future.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – Don’t rely on just one thing for success.
As sure as eggs is eggs – Without any doubt.
You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs – Something is hard to achieve without consequences elsewhere.
Teaching your grandmother to suck eggs – giving advice to another person in a subject which they’re already familiar with.
Egghead – a highly intellectual or studious person.
To egg on – To strongly encourage someone in a bad idea.
What do you want, an egg in your beer? – Wanting something for nothing.