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Not a sausage

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meia@bristol | 17:29 Wed 23rd Jun 2004 | Phrases & Sayings
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Does anyone know the origin of this expression as I know what it means? meia x
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Avatar Image tartanwiz
From going to the pantry and finding it empty of any food, perhaps? Same with 'not a bean'.
19:52 Wed 23rd Jun 2004
Avatar Image smudge
No, but my late Mum-in law used to say 'Oh well must go, it's six o'clock & no sausages pricked'.
21:16 Wed 23rd Jun 2004
Avatar Image Quizmonster
It first appeared in print - and that could conceivably be the first time it appeared anywhere - in a novel by Margery Allingham in 1938.
06:50 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image Quizmonster
There is also a suggestion that it may be derived from Cockney rhyming slang in which 'sausage and mash' meant 'cash'. Hence, 'not a sausage' meant 'no money'. The phrase is not applied solely to a lack of money nowadays, though, but can refer to anything that's absent.
08:01 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image smudge
Nice one Quizmonster - very logical!
08:59 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image tartanwiz
Q - When is a sausage not a sausage? A - When it fails to meet EU regulations on the % of meat (otherwise it's called a phallic shaped gristle pudding or something). :o)
12:36 Thu 24th Jun 2004

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