英语词汇know a hawk from a handsaw的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

know a hawk from a handsaw. Shakespeare made this phrase immortal in Hamlet, but its origins may never be estab- lished. The expression means “to be smart, to know one thing from another” and is usually employed negatively today: he doesn’t know a hawk from a handsaw. Handsaw in the phrase is said to be a corruption of hernshaw, a heron (thus it is literally “I know a hawk from a heron”), but there is no proof of this. The expression is quoted nowhere before Shakespeare and he could have been referring to the handsaw carpenters use, as he did in another play. Similarly, hawk here could refer to the tool called a hawk, which has long been used by plasterers.

词汇	know a hawk from a handsaw
词源	know a hawk from a handsaw. Shakespeare made this phrase immortal in Hamlet, but its origins may never be estab- lished. The expression means “to be smart, to know one thing from another” and is usually employed negatively today: he doesn’t know a hawk from a handsaw. Handsaw in the phrase is said to be a corruption of hernshaw, a heron (thus it is literally “I know a hawk from a heron”), but there is no proof of this. The expression is quoted nowhere before Shakespeare and he could have been referring to the handsaw carpenters use, as he did in another play. Similarly, hawk here could refer to the tool called a hawk, which has long been used by plasterers.
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