Teaching grandmother to suck eggs

Teaching grandmother to suck eggs is an English language saying meaning that a person is giving advice to someone else about a subject of which they are already familiar (and probably more so than the first person).^[1]

Origins of the phrase

The origins of the phrase are not clear. The OED and others^[2] suggest that it comes from a translation in 1707, by J. Stevens, of Francisco de Quevedo (Spanish author):

"You would have me teach my Grandame to suck Eggs"

Notable early uses

• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Henry Fielding (1749):^[3]

  “I remember my old schoolmaster, who was a prodigious great scholar, used often to say, Polly Matete cry Town is my daskalon. The English of which, he told us, was, That a child may sometimes teach his grandmother to suck eggs”

• Letter from Percy Bysshe Shelley to Leigh Hunt, 15 August 1819:

  “But what am I about? If my grandmother sucks eggs, was it I who taught her?”

Related phrase

The use of the phrase "Suck-egg" for "a silly person" dates back to 1609, in the OED.^[4]

References

1. "The Free Dictionary". Retrieved 2009-05-07..
2. "The Free Dictionary". Retrieved 2009-05-07.
3. Henry Fielding. "The History of Tom Jones a Foundling, Chapter 12". Retrieved 2009-05-07.
4. "alt.usage.english". Retrieved 2009-05-07.