Not up to snuff

[aliskye]

I need to figure out where that saying came from.

Anyway....I'm at work and doing not much but thinking about going home to rest. I'm still coughing and achy and not over this cold.

Work is quiet and slow.

Last night and stopped at the store for cough syrup and ended up buying bad comfort food and eating most of it. I need to get over this.

Comments

[cormac.livejournal.com]

The OED lists the first print usage of the phrase to 1811: "POOLE Hamlet Trav. II. i, 'He knows well enough The game we're after: Zooks, he's up to snuff.'" It was printed in what seems to be a slang dictionary in 1823, so it was widespread by then, and was probably made more popular when Dickens used it in 1848, in "Dombey": "An up-to-snuff old vagabond."

Hope this helps.

[aliskye.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thanks.

one possible explanation

[aeddie.livejournal.com]

In the late 17th century stores that sold snuff had a rule that if you were under a certain height you couldn't buy any, thus "not up to snuff."

Re: one possible explanation

[aliskye.livejournal.com]

I guess I'll never be up to snuff then. :)

Re: one possible explanation

[aeddie.livejournal.com]

It's bad for you anyway.

[fitzjames.livejournal.com]

Looking it up i see that the phrase can also mean to take medication by inhaling so if you are using nasal spray for your cold, you are also snuffing. I know I still am. Hope you are feeling better soon.