In honour of our new addition, let’s look at some phrases that refer to babies! As before, the definitions are taken from Christine Ammer’s The Dictionary of Clichés.

Don’t Throw the Baby Out With the Bath Water

“To discard the good along with the bad.”

This saying was originally a German proverb, appearing in print in 1512 in Thomas Murner’s satirical work Narrenbeschwörung (Appeal to Fools). The first printed reference in English is found in an essay by Scottish philosopher and German scholar Thomas Carlyle published in 1853. Both the Phrase Finder website and Chadds Ford Historical Society blog explain that the phrase does not refer to the baby being the last of the family to share the same bathwater so that the water was so dirty and murky that there was a real danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Babe(s) in the Wood

“Extremely naive or innocent individual(s).”

This phrase comes from a 1595 ballad attributed to Thomas Millington. It tells the story of two orphaned children whose wicked uncle wanted them murdered; one of the hired thugs repented of agreeing to the plot and killed the other, but he left the children in the forest where they died. (Sorry to be so gruesome!)

Wet Behind the Ears

“Immature, inexperienced.”

The blog Word Histories explains that this saying appeared first in German as far back as 1642 and the earliest English occurrences are in texts translated from German. It refers to the fact that the indentations behind the ears of newborn animals are the last part to dry after birth.

That’s Child’s Play

“Extremely simple, easily accomplished.”

This phrase first appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Merchant’s Tale” (1387): “I warne yow wel, it is no childes pley / To take a wyf withouten avysement.” (I warn you well, it is no child’s play / To take a wife without deliberation.)