know what side one's bread is buttered on

know what side one's bread is buttered on (third-person singular simple present knows what side one's bread is buttered on, present participle knowing what side one's bread is buttered on, simple past knew what side one's bread was buttered on or knew what side one's bread is buttered on, past participle known what side one's bread was buttered on or known what side one's bread is buttered on)

1. Alternative form of know which side one's bread is buttered on.
   • 1922, Henry Berman, “Act I”, in The Faith of the Fathers: A Play in Three Acts, New York, N.Y.: Nicholas L. Brown, →OCLC, pages 43–44:

     But I’ve heard some of my medical friends make their private confessions. They know what side their bread is buttered on, and it isn’t buttered on the side of truth all the time.

   • 1949 March 11, Not Amused , “Fruits of Labour”, in West Lothian Courier and Lanarkshire, Stirlingshire and Midlothian Herald, 77th year, number 3963, Bathgate, West Lothian, →OCLC, Letters to the Editor, page 2, column 5:

     The haste with which Sir Stafford Cripps contradicted an unfortunate statement by one of his juniors last week showed that he at least knew what side his bread is buttered on. Mr Finnigan and the rest of us in Britain are living on the charity which America provides, and this, mark you, the country which pursues a policy our Labour friends sneer at as being decadent, out of date, etc. Take this away and all the fruits Labour could give would be lemons.

   • 2004, Richard S. Wahlberg, chapter 7, in Master of His Fate, Tarentum, Pa.: Word Association Publishers, →ISBN, book 1, page 47:

     “Why didn’t he speak up?” / Fritz Vogel said, “That is what I asked, ‘couldn’t you protest?’ Richter answered somewhat feebly, I thought. He said, ‘I knew what side my bread is buttered on. Besides, who would have believed me?’”

   • 2008, Jerry Moriarity, Picking the Bones of Eleven Presidents and Others, →ISBN:

     The crowd, which included many children, cheered when Truman confided with a smile, “They know what side their bread is buttered on.”

   • 2021, Zoë Miller, “Two Weeks Earlier”, in House in the Woods, Dublin: Hachette Books Ireland, published 2022, →ISBN, page 198:

     ‘Amber will look after you. I’m good at issuing orders but I like to think I’m a fair boss – isn’t that so, Amber?’ / There was a flicker of a grin on Amber’s face. ‘I suppose you are.’ / ‘Amber’s good at knowing what side her bread is buttered on,’ Jamie muttered.

• “to know what side your bread is buttered on, phrase”, in Collins English Dictionary; from Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary, 6th edition, Boston, Mass.: Heinle Cengage Learning; Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009, →ISBN.