Fair to Middling
Doug from Traverse City
asked about the phrase fair to middling. It is now used mostly in response to
the question “How are you doing?” The colloquial reply is, “fair to middling.”
It seems to have originated in America in the mid 19th century, and
it means O.K.—not spectacular and not disastrous.
Originally, it appears
to have been used as part of a rating scale. The rating system ran, more or
less, from fine to good to fair to middling to poor. It was used to rate the
grade of cotton. Fair to middling would place the crop as average to low-average
in quality, and the price would be set accordingly.
The phrase was used for
other commodities, too, such as corn meal, flour, livestock, fruit, clothing,
and even meals. The noun middling goes all the way back to Old English, where
it signified an intermediate stage. The adjective middling appeared in the mid
15th century, where it meant moderate in size, strength, or quality.
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