Fit as a fiddle

Posted by Dick Royer on October 08, 2001

In Reply to: Fit as a fiddle posted by ESC on August 07, 2001

: : Ona exercise program on the television I heard "fit as a fiddle" used to sell memberships.

: FIT AS A FIDDLE -- "In fine shape; feeling good. Fiddles are admired for their sound and sometimes for their trim and symmetrical shape. Indeed, to say 'his face is made of a fiddle' was once a way of describing someone as charming. Still, fiddles are not known for fitness, and one suspects the allure of alliteration in the origin and perpetuation of the saying, which is quite old. It appeared in 1616 in William Haughton's 'Englishmen for My Money': 'This is excellent, i' faith; as fit as a fiddle.' At that time 'fit' meant appropriate, proper or fitting; its meaning 'in good shape' evolved in the 19th century and transformed the meaning of 'fit as a fiddle.'" From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).