APAD: Mare's Nest

Meaning:

   A much vaunted discovery, which later turns out to be illusory or worthless.

 

Background:

   There are two unrelated meanings of `mare's nest' in circulation, and there's

   little to connect them. The first, and `proper' meaning, has it that finding

   a mare's nest is imagining that one has found something remarkable when in

   fact one has found nothing of the sort. The second meaning, which is more

   widespread today, is that a mare's nest is a confused mess.

   

   The earlier `misconception' meaning has been in use since at least the 16th

   century, when Robert Peterson published a version of the Italian John Della

   Casa's Galateo. This was `done into English', that is, translated, by

   Peterson in 1576:

   

     Nor Stare in a mans face, as if he had spied a mares nest.

     

   Animals are often alluded to in phrases of this sort, for example, lion's

   share, dog's breakfast, bird's-eye view etc. Of course, this one is

   different, in that mares don't make nests - the allusion was meant to be

   comically ironic. That humour is reflected in several of the early citations

   of `mare's nest' (or horse's nest, as some early references have it), which

   refer directly to laughter, for example, John Fletcher's Jacobean tragedy

   Bonduca, circa. 1613

   

     Why dost thou laugh? What Mares nest hast thou found?

     

   The joke was pushed further by Dr. [Jonathan] Swift, in the play

   Miscellanies, 1751:

   

     What! Have you found a mare's nest, and laugh at the eggs?

     

   Back to the second, `muddle' meaning, which didn't begin to be used until the

   mid-19th century. It appears to have come into being as the result of a

   simple misunderstanding. To someone who was unfamiliar with the original

   meaning, and that meaning is hardly intuitive, `a mare's nest' would seem

   very much like the earlier 19th century phrase `a rat's nest'. In reality,

   rats make rather neat nests, but the phrase was certainly meant to mean a

   disordered tangle (see also haywire) and the currently widespread meaning of

   `mare's nest' was copied from that.

 

   The transition from the earlier meaning to the later one was gradual and

   appears to have been well underway by the 1920s, when Agatha Christie wrote

   The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Christie managed there to use both meanings

   in the same story:

 

   a misunderstanding:

       "In my opinion the whole thing is a mare's nest of Bauerstein's! ...

       Bauerstein's got a bee in his bonnet. Poisons are his hobby, so of

       course he sees them everywhere."

 

   and, a muddle: "A pretty mare's nest arresting him would have been."

 

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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My best friend from my Beijing days, Mike, succombed to colon cancer after two

years' fighting. On my last visit, all my buddy could manage was a short walk

over a few blocks in his quiet pricy neighborhood. At Mike's funeral, a lot was

said about his achievements at work. People talked about what a good engineer he

was and how much he contributed to his employer's wealth of patents. He was

dearly missed as a loving father, son, and husband. No one mentioned, however,

the importance of diet, good sleep, or physical exercise.

 

The first half of my life, I was told the same story: work hard, get promoted,

make money, and buy the dream house, the fast car, etc. I was not that smart in

the first place but more importantly, events in my early 40s, including Mike's

passing, raised doubts and made me wonder if it was only a mare's nest I was

chasing.