"Neither fish nor fowl" means not one or the other, not something fitting any category under discussion, as indefinite character and is difficult to identify or classify (similar to the phrase "betwixt and between")
The idiom originated in the ecclesiastical division of food into categories for purposes of abstinence and fasting, the word fish denoting the flesh of fish, as opposed to fowl, denoting that of birds.
The earliest known instance is from "Rede me and be nott wrothe for I saye no thynge but trothe" – Strasbourg, 1528, by William Roy and Jerome Barlow. According to them, Henry Standish, English Franciscan, Bishop of St. Asaph, played the part of Judas to betray the gospel in England:
– Who played the parte of Iudas?
– The wholy [= holy] bisshop of Saynct Asse
A poste of Satans iurisdiccion.
Whom they call Doctour standisshe
Wone [= One] that is nether flesshe nor fisshe
At all tymes a co?men lyer.
This expression also appeared in slightly different form in John Heywood's 1546 proverb collection (“Neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring”) and is thought to allude to food for monks (fish, because they abstained from meat), for the people (flesh, or meat), and for the poor (red herring, a very cheap fish).
- online source with editing
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Just curious, what was the feeling when you first joined WXC? Do you feel at home or "neither fish nor fowl"?
I had been reading WXC blog posts occasionally for a few years, prior to joining in Feb 2023.
I felt so overwhelmed and even a bit shocked to be honest by the responses under my first blog post (a self introduction), that I only did one reply to all.
When I posted my 2nd post two days later, there was only one MM left comments giving me advice about picture size and not to use English in title (see below). That really surprised me: Where have other people gone? What is "首页"? But I was too shy to ask.
Four months later in June, I posted one true funny story in blog and 笑坛 (my first WXC forum), but didn't go back to reply, as I had no concept of 互动 then and was too shy to say anything.
In fact I felt like I was "neither fish nor fowl" for a long time, until gradually building up friendships with some net-friends and started communicating on and off WXC.
Luckily, the two MMs (including 禾儿) I "run" into and bounded during my first WXC commenting (before my first WXC post) under a blog post are still good friends now.
Take a guess what was that first comment about? Maowi the cat, of course!!!
Happy another Friday!
