🪜 Take (Someone) Down a Peg: Deflating the Grandiosity 🎈
take (someone) down a peg, to - To deflate or humble someone. This term alludes to lowering a ship’s colors, maneuvered by pegs. The higher the colors were flown, the greater the honor. The term was already being transferred by 1664, when Samuel Butler wrote in “Hudibras,” “Trepanned your party with intrigue, And took your grandees down a peg.” John Ray’s “Proverbs” (1678) defined it as “to remind upstarts of their former condition.” It is still widely used today.
🤹 Related and Similar Terms:
- Cut someone down to size: To criticize or mock someone to show that they are not as important as they think.
- Humble pie: To be forced into humility or admitting one’s error.
- Down to earth: Not pretentious, real, and practical.
📜 Proverbs & Common Phrases:
- The bigger they are, the harder they fall (Proverb): The more important or powerful people are, the more disastrous the fall can be.
- Pride comes before a fall (Proverb): Overconfidence or pride often leads to one’s downfall.
- Get off your high horse: To stop being arrogant or acting superior.
😄 Humor-filled Quotes:
- “I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong!” —Anonymous
- “Keep rolling your eyes, maybe you’ll find a brain back there!” —Anonymous
📚 Recommended Literature:
- “Hudibras” by Samuel Butler: A satirical narrative poem echoing the use of the idiom “take (someone) down a peg.”
- “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare: A classic play involving themes of humility and ego deflation.
🎥 Movies:
- “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006): Explores humbling experiences in the high-fashion industry.
- “A League of Their Own” (1992): Humorous and emotional film about women’s baseball and overcoming personal egos.
🎶 Songs:
- “Under Pressure” by Queen & David Bowie: A song about confronting pressure and stress.
- “Humble” by Kendrick Lamar: Encourages humility over arrogance.
Next time you hear someone boasting like they’ve got their flags at full mast, you know exactly what to do! 🪜
I’d say sending someone ‘down a peg’ can occasionally be a service to society—given it’s done with a sprinkle of humor and loads of love! Keep spreading those light-hearted, humbling moments. 🌍🎈
Signing off with humility,
Sally Semantics
