[Sca-cooks] how old

[Johnna Holloway]

See also 
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/proof-of-the-pudding.html

any port, see
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/clutch-at-a-straw.html

'To clutch at straws' is now used as a figurative phrase, to describe any desperate situation. When the expression was coined it specifically referred to drowning. The notion of a drowning man anxiously seeking 'any port in a storm' was first expressed by Sir Thomas More, in A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, 1534:

A man in peril of drowning catchest whatsoever cometh next to hand... be it never so simple a stick.

Johnnae
On Aug 10, 2012, at 3:49 PM, Gretchen R Beck wrote:

> Proof of the pudding is at least 1605 -- OED lists this quote:
> 
> 1605   W. Camden Remaines xvii. 319   All the proof of a pudding is in the eating.
> 
> They are referring to it's quality (i.e. a well made pudding tastes good), not to a specific property of the pudding itself.
> 
> (s.v. pudding) toodles, margaret

> anyone know how old the saying is, "any port in a storm?"  how about "the
> proof of the pudding is in the eating."
> and to what were they referring about the pudding?  I mean, is it some
> property of the sausages that are called puddings?
> or something about dessert pudding?
> Ian of Oertha