By half

Posted by R. Berg on April 09, 2003

In Reply to: Too smart posted by peter dunn on April 08, 2003

: what is the origin of "too smart by a half"?

A common form is "too clever by half." Try this bit from the archives: www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 8 messages 1395.html (link below). To find more comments, type "clever half" in the archive-search box.

• Too clever