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The Kitchen Table

Phrase of the day 2/4

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

3 years ago

Laughing up one’s sleeve

A person who is laughing up his or her sleeve is concealing derision of another person, laughing secretly, perhaps, to spare the other’s feelings. The expression is a very old one, going back to the days when it was perfectly possible to conceal one’s face in the large, loose sleeves on garments – similar to those still worn by some orders of monks and nuns.

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Comments (2)

maire_cate
3 years ago
That one makes perfect sense and reminds me that the nuns who taught us in grade school had large, loose sleeves. They often had handkerchiefs or tissues stored in their sleeves or apron fronts.
kevin9408
3 years ago
I never saw a nun laugh and those sleeves usually concealed a switch of some sort. That living nightmare ended in the early 60's when one nun gave my brother a bash on the head requiring 6 stitches. Oh the horrors, ever get picked up by the ears when you were 7 years old? I did.
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