英语词汇give him an inch and he’ll take a mile的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

give him an inch and he’ll take a mile. The expression may someday become “give him a millimeter and he’ll take a meter,” or something similar. It has already been put this way humor- ously and might someday be standard English. This shouldn’t be surprising, since the expression was originally give him an inch and he’ll take an ell, a very old proverb that goes back be- fore the 16th century. An ell, the word deriving from the Anglo- Saxon eln, “the forearm to the tip of the middle finger,” varied in length from 27 to 48 inches, depending on in which country you were measuring forearms (the English had it at 45 inches). No matter what the measurement, past or present, the expres- sion means the same—give him a small concession and he’ll take great liberties.

词汇	give him an inch and he’ll take a mile
词源	give him an inch and he’ll take a mile. The expression may someday become “give him a millimeter and he’ll take a meter,” or something similar. It has already been put this way humor- ously and might someday be standard English. This shouldn’t be surprising, since the expression was originally give him an inch and he’ll take an ell, a very old proverb that goes back be- fore the 16th century. An ell, the word deriving from the Anglo- Saxon eln, “the forearm to the tip of the middle finger,” varied in length from 27 to 48 inches, depending on in which country you were measuring forearms (the English had it at 45 inches). No matter what the measurement, past or present, the expres- sion means the same—give him a small concession and he’ll take great liberties.
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