Re: Giving an inch, taking a mile...

["Susan Ives" <suives@texas.net>]

I won't vouch for the validity of this, but I got it from
http://www.cam.org/~jennyb/lasto2.html
Give him an inch and he'll take a mile.
 The expression may someday become "give him a millimeter and he'll take a
meter," or something similar. It has  already been put this way humorously
and might someday be standard English. Which shouldn't be surprising. In
fact, the above expression was originally give him an inch and he'll take an
ell, a very old proverb that goes back  before the 16th century. An ell, the
word deriving from the Anglo-Saxon eln, "the forearm to the tip of the
middle  finger," varied in length from 27 to 48 inches, depending on in
which country you were measuring forearms (the  English had it at 45
inches).
 No matter what the measurement, past or present, the expression means the
same - give him a small concession  and he'll take great liberties.
Susan Ives
http://www.salsa.net/peace/quotes.html
San Antonio, TX
suives@texas.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Gunnar Hjalmarsson <quotation-ring@gunnar.cc>
To: Quotation Ring Mailing List <quotation-ring-l@gunnar.cc>
Cc: Nicole Widsten <nwidsten@home.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 5:07 PM
Subject: [QRList] Giving an inch, taking a mile...
>
> Hi all!
>
> I got a query from Nicole about a saying, and the only leads are:
>
> "It has something to do with giving a inch and people taking a mile."
>
> Is there possibly anyone who knows the wording and/or has some info
> about the source?
>
> Regards,
> Gunnar