Licked

‘An empty hand is not licked’, said a colleague today. We had been at a workshop to make revisions to a proposal and we were talking about those who contribute actively to the process, and those who shirk the work and are principally there for the free lunch. The saying criticises those who don’t contribute (bringing an empty hand) and implies that people should strive to have their hand licked. There’s nowt queerer than an idiom.

When the day’s proposal edits were over, I spoke to my sister. Georgia was playing with an upturned chair and watching In The Night Garden. Until my dying day I will never understand this programme. She had also rubbed fish pie in her hair so she smelt of cod, remarked my sister.