know on which side one's bread is buttered
English
Verb
know on which side one's bread is buttered (third-person singular simple present knows on which side one's bread is buttered, present participle knowing on which side one's bread is buttered, simple past knew on which side one's bread was buttered or knew on which side one's bread is buttered, past participle known on which side one's bread was buttered or known on which side one's bread is buttered)
- Alternative form of know which side one's bread is buttered on.
- 1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 24:
- “Hush!” said Tunstall, “remember our master.” / “Pshaw!” answered his mercurial companion; “he knows on which side his bread is buttered, and I warrant you has not lived so long among Englishmen, and by Englishmen, to quarrel with us for bearing an English mind. […]”
- 1984, A[rthur] Bertram Chandler, “The Last Amazon”, in John Grimes: Reserve Commodore […], [New York]: SFBC Science Fiction, published January 2004, →ISBN, chapter 22, page 102:
- There was a speech by Ellena, which she delivered from before a backdrop on which were idealized portraits of such famous persons as Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Golda Mier and Margaret Thatcher. There was also one of a lady attired as an ancient Greek warrior, presumably the mythical Queen Hippolyte. This one looked remarkably like Ellena herself. (“I suppose that the artist knew on which side her bread is buttered,” sneered Fenella.)
- 1997, Frederic C. Thomas, “The Intractability of Urban Poverty”, in Calcutta Poor: Elegies on a City above Pretense, Armonk, N.Y.: East Gate, →ISBN, page 166:
- Knowing on which side their bread is buttered, planners would reject the notion that slum dwellers are more qualified than trained specialists to work out the answers to their problems or that a composite of their localized plans would be better than any “rationalized” bureaucratic solution.
- 2019 December 26, Will Kennedy, “Pop Music Dreams”, in Camilla Mortensen, editor, Eugene Weekly, volume 38, number 52, Eugene, Ore., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22:
- I don’t live in Bend for a reason, but Bend is a town that knows on which side its bread is buttered, and attracting live music is clearly part of that vision.