🕯️ Hold a Candle: Holding Uphigh the Art of Self-Depreciation 🤏
Get ready for an enlightening journey as we explore the phrase “to not hold a candle to,” and how it became synonymous with being vastly inferior. We’ll delve into its historical roots, marvel at some lighthearted humor, and discover how literature has kept this idiom glowing through the centuries.
Historical Glow 💡
Holding a candle for someone else was already considered a menial task in the sixteenth century. It implied such an inferior position that one wasn’t even worthy to assist in the simplest of services. “Who that worst maie, shall holde the candell” appeared in John Heywood’s 1546 collection of proverbs, signalling that even in those days, people were casting metaphorical shade.
Skipping ahead almost a century, Sir Edward Dering clearly felt rather small compared to the great philosopher when he wrote in 1640, “I be not worthy to hold a candle to Aristotle.” The PhraseMaster’s handbook gets even more poetic in 1773 with John Byrom’s account, “Others aver that he to Handel is scarcely fit to hold the candle.”
Common Phrases 🔤
- Not Worthy to Hold a Candle To: Emphasizes a significant disparity in skill or worth between two entities.
- Can’t Shine Their Shoes: Another phrase implying vast inferiority.
- Out of One’s League: Often used in romantic contexts to express that one’s potential partner is significantly superior.
- Bark up the Wrong Tree: Misplacing your efforts towards something where you have no chance to succeed.
Sibling Sayings 👨👩👧👦
- Like the Back of My Hand: Knowing something or someone so well, you could describe it without actually seeing it.
- A Dime a Dozen: Very common and not valuable. You are quite common if “not worthy to hold a candle.”
- Fish Out of Water: Feeling unattuned or inferior in a particular situation echoes “not holding a candle.”
Literary Lights 📚
Some recommended reads that wax poetic around people’s perceived worth:
- “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens: Pip spends much of the novel feeling unworthy and inferior.
- “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Gatsby constantly yearns to hold a candle to the wealth and social status of the old-moneyed class.
- “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen: Where Mr. Collins noticeably isn’t fit to hold a candle to the charming Mr. Darcy.
Cinematic Matches 🎥
- Amadeus (1984): Explores the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri, where the latter constantly feels vastly inferior to the former.
- The Devil Wears Prada (2006): Andy Sachs realizes she isn’t fit to “hold a candle” to her boss, the formidable Miranda Priestly.
- Ratatouille (2007): Remy, the rat, yearns to “hold a candle” to world-class chefs despite his unique limitations.
Proverbs 🔮
- Chinese Proverb: “A single candle can light a thousand.” – Even in the simplest of tasks lies great potential.
- African Proverb: “The sun never sets without fresh news.” – There’s always more to learn and a higher standard to seek.
Quiz Time 📝
And thus, we bid farewell with this illuminating thought: Everyone is a candle in their own right. Some of us merely shine in different, perhaps less glaring lights. Hold on to the value you bring, for you can light others in more ways than you might think.
🌟 Shine on, Word Lovers.
- Rita Wittyquill
