Knows which side of her bread is buttered




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Knows which side of her bread is buttered : Phrases

Meaning:

A person or place that has the potential to enrich.


Example:

When her boss says jump, she says how high, only because she knows which side of her bread is buttered.


Origin:

This phrase is a reference to a Yiddish folk tale of the Wise men of Chelm.

In the tale, Chelm was a city in Poland where the people were incredibly stupid. One day someone dropped a piece of bread; it landed butter side up! Experience and Murphy's law tells us bread always falls buttered side down, the wise men of Chelm gathered to ponder why the bread landed buttered side up.

After a week the verdict was that the bread had been buttered on the wrong side.

Alternative: Dry bread can be pretty boring to eat. Bread is much tastier with some kind of spread - butter, jam, etc. Hence the person or place that provides your spread can enrich the bread eating experience.





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