Praise over the green clover
Praising someone over the green clover is a common saying that means praising someone unduly .
The origin of the expression is not entirely certain. One possible origin of the phrase could be that graves and cemeteries were previously planted with clover . A praise for the green clover would be like praise for a deceased person. This is generally better than about a living person (cf. the aphorism " De mortuis nil nisi bene. " ( Eng . "About the dead (speak) only benevolently.")). The Duden supposes the origin in medieval poetry, when green clover (a lawn with clover flowers) was equated and praised for freshness and spring. After that, praising the green clover would mean praising someone even more than one praising the fresh, green (clover) meadow.
In the book "About the Green Clover of Childhood" (1982) Alois Brandstetter writes about the glossing over of the past in memory.
literature
- Dr. Word (ie: Jochen Krause): Close the flap, dead monkey. Where our expressions come from (= Rororo 62632). Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-499-62632-6 .
- Alois Brandstetter : About the green clover of childhood (= dtv 10450). 2nd Edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-423-10450-3 .
