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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. how the sausage gets made

• Thread starter Thread starter antonio85berlin
• Start date Start date May 3, 2011

A

antonio85berlin

Senior Member

spanish Good morning everyone; I would like to know what does "how the sausage gets made" exactly. I have found many different contexts, this is actually a quite common expression as you easely find many entrances in google, eventhough none of them is a dicitonary definition or explanation. I have found out that when watching sausages getting made, unpleasant truths about it emerge that make it less appealing. The idea is that if people watched sausages getting made, they would probably be less fond on them. So when I read "how the sausage gets made" in a newspaper article about Barack Obama, or a business article etc, does it mean "toda la verdad acerca de...." or "all the truth about something" or something like that? Thank you very much. Last edited: May 3, 2011

Masood

Senior Member

Leicester, England British English

antonio85berlin said: Good morning everyone; I would like to know what does "how the sausage gets maid" exactly. I have found many different contexts, this is actually a quite common expression as you easely find many entrances in google, eventhough none of them is a dicitonary definition or explanation. I have found out that when watching sausages getting made, unpleasant truths about it emerge that make it less appealing. The idea is that if people watched sausages getting made, they would probably be less fond on them. So when I read "how the sausage gets maid" in a newspaper article about Barack Obama, or a business article etc, does it mean "toda la verdad acerca de...." or "all the truth about something" or something like that? Thank you very much. Click to expand...

Hello Is it 'maid' or 'made'? Without more context, 'maid' makes no sense. A

antonio85berlin

Senior Member

spanish

Masood said: Hello Is it 'maid' or 'made'? Without more context, 'maid' makes no sense. Click to expand...

Ups. Sorry, it's made. That was just a mistake.

Masood

Senior Member

Leicester, England British English I've never heard the expression 'how the sausage gets made' other than to refer to...how sausages are made. You might be right, though. Maybe it is used to refer to 'unpleasant truths'. A

antonio85berlin

Senior Member

spanish I entered the expression in google and I found lots of entries: How your Fox News sausage gets made How your Journalism sausage gets made How your Blogger sausage gets made How the sausage gets made (An article from the Politico online newpaper about Barack Obama and the USA politics) and a long etc. All that lead me to think that is kind of an expression to say "how whatever thing works" or "all the truth about whatever thing" or "the making off whatever thing" or "behind the scenes". But as I said before, it really intrigues me that a so commonly used expression has no entries in almost any online dictionary to explain its meaning. Last edited: May 3, 2011 C

cubaMania

Senior Member

Near San Francisco CA USA USA/English I am familiar with the expression "how the sausage gets made" meaning "the details of how something gets done which are so unpleasant that it is better not to know about them or think about them". Here is some material on a probable origin:

Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made. Though similar remarks are often attributed to Bismarck, this is the earliest known quote regarding laws and sausages, and is attributed to John Godfrey Saxe in The Daily Cleveland Herald (29 March 1869) Click to expand...

Source: wikiquote, here: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck

aztlaniano

Senior Member

Lavapiestán, Madrid English (Aztlán, US sector)

cubaMania said: the details of how something gets done which are so unpleasant that it is better not to know about them or think about them". Click to expand...

Sausages are made from the least desirable bits and scraps of the pig. Were you to witness the process, you would probably never want to eat them again. It's preferable not to know how they are made. P

pubman

Senior Member

south coast, England English Like Massod I am unaware of this expression. I think it is most likely an AmE expression A

antonio85berlin

Senior Member

spanish All right, so correct me if I am wrong: How your Fox News sausage gets made: The article probably speaks about the unpleasant details about Fox News that it is best not to know. How your Journalism sausage gets made: The article probably speaks about the unpleasant details about Journalism that it is best not to know. In other words, tells about the Journalism making off all the details of whom are not very nice. (About US politics and specially Barack Obama) How the sausage gets made: Likely this is about some Barack Obama / US politics issues that you wouldn't find in the electoral campaign comercials due to they are dark and it is better people not to know about them. Did I get it right? Thank you all very much.

aztlaniano

Senior Member

Lavapiestán, Madrid English (Aztlán, US sector)

antonio85berlin said: Did I get it right? Click to expand...

Yes. Incidentally, I suspect the expression was inspired by this 1906 (American) novel, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair: http://www.capitalcentury.com/1906.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle I gave up eating hotdogs after I read it, which was shortly after it was first published, and I still don't eat them.

Masood

Senior Member

Leicester, England British English It was first published in 1906, which makes you over 100 years old! Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2015

fenixpollo

Senior Member

American English

pubman said: Like Massod I am unaware of this expression. I think it is most likely an AmE expression Click to expand...

If it is American English, it's not a common expression over here. This is the first time I've heard it.

squidink

Senior Member

Venezuela, Spanish An article from Politico about the relationship between the Clintons and Obama also made reference to that expression, I think: Hillary’s husband, on the other hand, has made the most of his surrogacy for Obama, spurring speculation that he wanted to ensure the favor was repaid four years from now. "I think he had the time of his life," said James Carville, the longtime Clinton hand-turned-pundit, adding that Obama "doesn’t strike me as somebody that likes making sausage. He certainly likes to eat it." I wonder whether Carville meant that Obama wouldn't enjoy the trouble of campaigning for Hillary in an eventual 2016 campaign. ​ Last edited: Nov 8, 2012

aztlaniano

Senior Member

Lavapiestán, Madrid English (Aztlán, US sector)

squidink said: I wonder whether Carville meant that Obama wouldn't enjoy the trouble of campaigning for Hillary in an eventual 2016 campaign. Click to expand...

I think he means that Obama enjoys being in office but he does not enjoy campaigning - kissing babies, shaking hands, being polite to prospective donors, etc. O

old_timer

New Member

English - American Hello, I came upon this string while looking up this phrase to see its different usages, and I thought it might be helpful to jump in. I'm American, and in my experience, the phrase "how the sausage gets made" refers to the detailed, often laborious work that no one really wants to do, but which is ultimately what leads things to happen. In other words, in Government, politicians do a lot of talking about big ideas, but where the "sausage is made" is during the times that those politicians actually sit down at the table and work at the mundane details of a particular plan. It is sometimes tedious work, but it is also very necessary and important. So while the "unpleasantness" is part of it, at the end of the day, if no one makes the sausage, there will be no sausage to eat. Does that make sense? You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

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