"too much on their plate"
Posted by Smokey Stover on February 15, 2005
In Reply to: "Too much on their plate" posted by ESC on February 15, 2005
: : Help - can anyone tell me when this phrase first was used?
: : Thanks
: It's a fairly recent "buzz phrase" in business in the U.S. But "have a lot on one's plate" must have some age on it because it is in this reference: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable revised by Adrian Room (HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1999, Sixteenth Edition).
On one's plate, figuratively used. One can have "enough on my plate," meaning all I can handle, or "too much" or just "a lot." The latter is cited by the OED from 1928. SS
- "Too much on their plate" ESC 15/February/05