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? >> >>