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neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring

Unsuitable for anyone or anything; unfit for any purpose.

Etymology:

  • The three foods are metonyms for those things suitable to each of medieval society’s classes of people; fish represents the clergy, flesh represents commoners, whilst red herring represents paupers; the three classes are simplistically regarded as exhaustive.
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Submitted on July 07, 2010

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ни рыба, ни мясо, ни хорошая красная сельдь

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring

lady in redno-good assno news is good newsone fleshlet the good times rollnot for love nor moneylet the perfect be the enemy of the goodneither fish, flesh, nor fowllike shooting fish in a barrelneither here nor therelike shooting fish in a barrelon good terms withodd fishneither fish nor flesh

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    "neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/neither-fish,-flesh,-nor-good-red-herring_13798>.

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