Re: Horses for Courses
- Posted by David Cuny <dcuny at LANSET.COM> Apr 15, 2003
- 437 views
Derek wrote: > Must be an Australianism - ain't diversity a wonderful thing. Actually, it's a British racing term. Certain horses run better on certain= =20 courses. Its used to mean a person or thing being employed for the purpose= =20 for which it is best suited. Not that I know this first hand; I defer to: http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/690.html for the following information: A mostly British expression urging someone to stick to the thing he knows=20 best, 'horses for courses' comes from the horse racing world, where it is=20 widely assumed that some horses race better on certain courses than on=20 others. In 1898 a British writer noted in the first recorded use of the=20 expression: "A familiar phrase on the turf is 'horses for courses.'" From t= he=20 "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on=20 =46ile, New York, 1997, Page 339). A course of action or policy that has been modified slightly from the origi= nal=20 to allow for altered circumstances. A horse that runs well on a dry course= =20 will run less well on a damp course and vice versa. =46rom "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, Sixteenth Edition" (1999) A familiar phrase on the turf is "horses for courses".... The Brighton Cour= se=20 is very like Epson, and horses that win at one meating often win at the=20 other. (A.E.T. Watson, "Turf", 1891) He must concentrate on the doctrine of horses for courses ... in using the= =20 special knowledge of individual ministers. (H. Wilson, "Governance of=20 Britain", 1976) In the thoroughbred racing, it's called "horses for courses." In Hollywood,= =20 it's known as smart casting. ("Washington Post", July 7, 1996) =2D- David Cuny