from "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable" -
    "TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS" -To strive against odds, especially against
authority. 'Prick' here is an ox-goad, and the allusion is to Acts ix, 5 -
'It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.'" " Honor pricks me on."
Guess from whence that cometh, not certainly from sitting on a nettle.

CDM

----------
>From: Tim Romano <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: "kick against the pricks"
>Date: Thu, Mar 15, 2001, 4:46 AM
>

> The English translators of Matthew used the proverbial phrase. But the
> proverb is attested in England as early as the 14th century.
>
> There is a related proverb, "to piss into the wind."  That proverb has a
> gender-variant -- "to piss upon a nettle."
> Tim Romano
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gavin Francis" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 4:01 AM
> Subject: Re: "kick against the pricks"
>
>
>> It's from the gospel of Matthew.
>>
>> GAVIN
>>
>> Dave wrote:
>>
>> > Dear Pounders,
>> >
>> > Did Pound coin the addage in Hugh Selwyn Maulber, "Mr. Nixon": "Don't
> kick
>> > against the pricks"?  Or, was that a colloquial saying?
>>
>>