Many thanks

odious?

Comparisons are odious.
Proverbs 141

Comparisons are odorous.
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-9) act 3, sc. 5, l. [18]

I came up with this line from the play:

Dogb. Goodman Verges, sir, speaks a little off the matter: an old man, sir, and his wits are not so blunt, as, God help, I would desire they were; but, in faith, honest as the skin between his brows.
Verg. Yes, I thank God, I am as honest as any man living, that is an old man and no honester than I.
Dogb. Comparisons are odorous: palabras, neighbour Verges.
Leon. Neighbours, you are tedious.

But the plot thickens: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable lists the quote "Comparisons are Odorous" this way:

Comparisons are Odorous.

So says Dogberry. (Much Ado About Nothing, iii. 5.) 1
"We own your verses are melodious,
But then comparisons are odious."

Swift Answer to Sheridan's "Simile."


Our own list of phrase origins here on Phrase Finder says it's "comparisons are odorous: but that it is often misquoted as "comparisons are odious"

I don't have the whole of the play handy but will try to look it up unless someone else gets there first.

I've done a google search and the Brewer is the only source for that quote I could find. I also found an online version of the play and couldn't find the line - at least not where Brewer says it is.

My faith is shaken - not stirred.

To put Ms. Camel's mind at rest, this from Act 3 Scene 5 of Much Ado About Nothing:

VERGES
Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man living
that is an old man and no honester than I.

DOGBERRY
Comparisons are odorous: palabras, neighbour Verges.

LEONATO
Neighbours, you are tedious.

This is a tad hazy, but the quotation in Brewers that Ms Camel refers to is by Jonathan Swift, who himself is knowingly misquoting (or rather correcting - see my other post) Shakespeare's Dogberry in a reply to Sheridan's "Simile". This Sheridan isn't Richard Brinsley Sheridan, as might as first be supposed, but rather Thomas Sheridan (1687-1738) who wrote something called "The Simile: or, Woman: a Cloud. A Poem"

And there I was thinking "swift" was an adverb. You are a gentleman indeed. Thank you. You've saved me from lying awake all night wondering.

Camelita