neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring you have here. The definition of the word neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofneither fish, flesh, nor good red herring, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

WOTD – 9 January 2011

Etymology

The three foods are metonyms for those things suitable to each of medieval society’s classes of people; fish represents the clergy, flesh represents commoners, whilst red herring represents paupers; the three classes are simplistically regarded as exhaustive.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (AU)(file)

Adjective

neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) Synonym of neither fish nor fowl (“not easily categorized; not rightly belonging or fitting well in a given group or situation; also, not having the advantages of the various options”)
    • 1844 April, Scott, “Rise and Progress of Culinary Literature and Cookery ”, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, American edition, volume XXXIII, New York, N.Y.: Published by Leonard Scott & Co. 112 Fulton-Street, page 110:
      The work of Ude is intended for the higher ranks, and for people of fortune. We conceive the book and the cook to have been overrated. It is neither French nor English — neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring. For the rest, Lord Sefton, who was too much of a mere glutton, would have perverted the taste of any cook, however good, who had been long in his service.
    • 1875, Henry James, Roderick Hudson, Boston, Mass.: J. R. Osgood:
      He had frequent fits of melancholy in which he declared that he was neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring. His was neither an irresponsibly contemplative nature nor a sturdily practical one, and he was for ever looking in vain for the uses of the things that please and the charm of the things that sustain.
    • , new, revised, corrected, and enlarged edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Henry Altemus Company [reproduced on Bartleby.com], →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-01-05:
      It is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl; or Neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring. Not fish (food for the monk), not flesh (food for the people generally), nor yet red herring (food for paupers). Suitable to no class of people; fit for neither one thing nor another. ⁂ Fish comes first because in the Middle Ages the clergy took precedence of the laity. “She would be a betwixt-and-between ... . neither fish nor fowl.” — Mrs. Lynn Linton.]

Alternative forms

Translations

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia