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shameless pleading

 

 

 

 

Lick and a promise

A little dab’ll do you.

Dear Word Detective: I was telling my English penpal that I am reluctant to let my landlord paint my apartment, because the job would be merely “a lick and a promise.” She remarked that the phrase is used in the same way on both sides of the Pond, and we both wondered what it means literally, and where it came from. Can you shed some light? — Judith Baron, NYC.

I think your trepidation is well founded. Beware of clowns bearing paint cans. Before we bought our house, we noticed that much of the interior had been recently painted, which seemed like a good sign. It wasn’t. When, much later, we pulled up the cheesy wall-to-wall carpet the previous owner had installed, we discovered that he had covered the nice wooden floors with a Jackson Pollock splatter-fest of cheap white paint.

“A lick and a promise” means, as the American Heritage Dictionary puts it, “a superficial effort made without care or enthusiasm.” To perform a task with “a lick and a promise” is to do the absolute minimum required, and often far less than that. With “a lick and a promise,” you’re not really tackling the task, only half-heartedly pretending to chase it.

Of course, almost any field of human endeavor has its slackers, from car mechanics who only feign changing your oil to playwrights who try to skate by on momentum, as Mary McCarthy noted in a 1948 review: “The Dublin Gate players … had a slapdash style of acting that suggested an Irish house-maid flailing about with a dust-cloth — they gave their roles a lick and a promise and trusted to the audience’s good-nature to take the will for the deed.”

The metaphor of a careless maid, however unfair it probably is, harkens back to the original meaning of “a lick and a prayer,” which was “a superficial cleaning,” specifically what the Oxford English Dictionary pegs as “a slight and hasty wash,” the “wash” being the process of washing one’s face and hands. Imagine a child, sent to wash up before supper, who skips the soap and only splashes some water on his hands, yet stoutly asserts that he is squeaky clean.

The “lick” in “lick and a promise” is the standard noun, based on the verb “to lick” in the sense of, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, “to pass the tongue over (something), e.g., with the object of tasting, moistening the surface, or removing something from it.” The noun “lick” has been used in this sense of “quick and casual cleaning” since the 17th century, quite possibly drawn from the way a cat cleans itself (although cats are known for their hygienic diligence).

“Promise” in the phrase, however, is a bit mysterious. It could mean an implicit promise to do a better job next time, or a promise that no one will notice the shoddiness of the job, or it might be just a reference to the dreamy, inattentive mentality of the slacker.

13 comments to Lick and a promise

  • Clarica

    The promise is you’ll come back and do a good job. It only applies if you’re too busy to do a good job right now.

  • Jean

    If you have very good intentions, it means you give it a really quick go-over because you’ve not time for more. Then, the promise is to get back to it and do it right as soon as you possibly can. My mother taught me. Her mother was Scots-Irish.

  • Curtis Eaton

    In the 1950s, I saw people in rural Oklahoma who, after finishing a meal, licked their plates and untensils and left them on the table ready for the next meal. Perhaps there was also an implicit promise to wash them next time.

  • Lewis R. C.

    I am, at this moment, writing a letter to my attorneys (two terrific young women with H.C.C. here in N.Y.C.), telling them of the incredibly ugly treatment tenants of the building (where I have lived since 1979) receive from the slimelord (new word, yes … but you get the meaning). At best, desperately necessary repairs get the old “lick and a promise” treatment! Meanwhile, the neglect of rotted beams and joists (all are wooden throughout the building) leaves me fearful that the building will pancake one day!

  • Paul

    This was a phrase my mother used a lot, but only in reference to cleaning, and only because you ran out of time to do a better job. I would never use it in reference to painting, because the “promise” is definitely a promise to do a better job next time. Perfect example: “I ran out of time cleaning for the party, so the upstairs bathroom just got a lick and a promise.”

  • Cape Bretoner from the Pier dear

    I was raised in Nova Scotia and the phrase my mother used was “A Scotch lick and an Irish promise” – interesting!

  • Helen Sanders

    I read a book set in Mississippi where the woman said, regarding the house cleaning – I hit it a lick and gave it a promise.

  • I have always thought it was of sexual nature. Lets say the wife has a headache and tells her husband I will just give you a lick and a promise for more tomorrow night. Sorry, if this is a bit risqué, but that is what I thought it meant.

  • Kathryn Conner

    I’m ROTFL at Jeffrey’s comment. I’m going to use it some day.

  • Laurel

    My mother came from Scotts-Irish people and used this phrase a lot. She was an indifferent housekeeper and naive when it came to sexual nuance. As a child I assumed it meant “I’ll do a better job next time” but wanted to check that it did not stem from a more provocative meaning.

  • Joyce

    My mother, also Scotch Irish, used this phase frequently. I would like to learn the original meaning of it. I realize we use it now as a promise, but I would like to go back further. I liked the example of licking the plate, but maybe it was chastising a child, i.e., give him a little lick now and a larger punishment later. Does anyone know?

  • Angela

    My dad, of Italian descent, who grew up in NYC, used to say, “a kiss, lick and a promise” when describing a hastily done job.

  • Par

    The promise is that you’ll do a proper job later.. When you get a chance.. When you get around to it.. When other priorities allow. Such a promise, however, should be taken with a substantial pinch of salt.

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