I love old sayings, and I am very inquisitive by nature, so this is a perfect thread at least for me.
I was having this conversation at work today:
The saying:
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry
Now what struck me was why mice were part of the discussion. Turns out that this saying was taken from a Poem. The saying is adapted from a line in "To a Mouse," by Robert Burns: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley."
That got me wondering what the hell "gang after a-gley" meant and what language was it. That got me using ChatGTP which explained:
"Gang aft agley" is a phrase in Scottish dialect, specifically from the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns. It is often translated to modern English as "often go awry" or "often go wrong." The full line from the poem is:
"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry," which means that even carefully thought out and well-prepared plans can go wrong or fail unexpectedly.
Quote from: MightyGiants on October 06, 2023, 10:24:11 AMI love old sayings, and I am very inquisitive by nature, so this is a perfect thread at least for me.
I was having this conversation at work today:
The saying:
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry
Now what struck me was why mice were part of the discussion. Turns out that this saying was taken from a Poem. The saying is adapted from a line in "To a Mouse," by Robert Burns: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley."
That got me wondering what the hell "gang after a-gley" meant and what language was it. That got me using ChatGTP which explained:
"Gang aft agley" is a phrase in Scottish dialect, specifically from the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns. It is often translated to modern English as "often go awry" or "often go wrong." The full line from the poem is:
"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry," which means that even carefully thought out and well-prepared plans can go wrong or fail unexpectedly.
Or Murph's law.