A Cut Loaf

I wus able tae fin thrie different versions o this aul sayin

"A slice aff a cut loaf's niver miss'd." - Ulster-Scots

"A whang aff a new cut kebbuck [cheese] is ne'er miss'd."-Scot. "

'Tis safe taking a shive of a cut loaf."-Eng.

I have only ever heard this idiom used in the justification of taking, usually without permission, an insignificant item ( one of many). However my research has also revealed a sexual context for the saying. Apparently it is also used colloquially to describe having sexual intercourse with someone who is not a virgin, especially when they are in a relationship. The analogy refers to a loaf of bread; it is not readily apparent, once the end has been removed, exactly how many slices have been taken.

This idiom also appears in - Titus Andronicus -Shakespeare

Demetrius- What man! more water glideth by the mill Than wots the miller of; and easy it is Of a cut loaf to steal a shive we know.

How the world wags

In researching some of these 'aul sayins' two things, at least, have become clear. One the poverty of language that was cited as one of the main the reasons for so many of the proverbs in rural Ulster is a complete misunderstanding of the wit and economy of language possessed by the Ulster-Scots. And two that the hamely tongue is in many ways much closer to middle English that much of todays so called standard English. Indeed this is the second time this week that my research has turned up direct links between the works of Shakespeare and an aul sayin.

This iz yin ma great granda use tae say

You wag bush an I'll wag wae ye.

Which means what ever you do I'll go along with it. The word wag is used here in pretty much the same context as in Shakespeare's - As You Like It: 2.7.21

"...And then he drew a dial from his poke,

And looking on it with lack-lustre eye,

Says very wisely, “It is ten o’clock:

Thus we may see,” quoth he, “how the world wags.”

Did ye iver think in a blog aboot aul Ulster-Scots sayins thur bae sa much Shakespeare?

Literary connections or mere Edyecatshin

An aul sayin that was a favourite of my uncle James was:

As fu as an egg's fu o meat.

"Did ye get enough ta ate?"
"I maun I did. I'm as fu as an egg's fu o meat"

Several years later (whilst studying for my A level English) I came across what I believe to be the origin of this sayin in Romeo and Juliet:

MERCUTIO (Act 1)
"Thy head is as fun of quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg... " etc.

This aul sayin (or at least a similar version) also crops up in W. G. Lyttle's Daft Eddie or The Smugglers of Strangford Lough

Chapter VII
"But then," he retorted, laughing again; "yer jist like a' the rest o' the weemin', as fu' o curiosity as an egg's fu' o' meat..."


Note: I am indebted to the Ulster-Scots poet Wilbert MaGill for the wonderful phonetic translation of Edyecatshin.