You may have heard the expression “like a bull in a china shop.” But what does this mean? And where does this saying come from? We’ll answer these questions in this post.
To understand this expression, it’s useful to first consider the word “china.” In this case, we’re talking about dinnerware, not the People’s Republic of China—although there is a connection between the two.
Pottery includes articles such as dinnerware that are made from clay and fired at high temperatures. Porcelain is a particular type of pottery that uses different raw materials, glazes, and temperatures. Porcelain has a tougher texture than most pottery, although you wouldn’t want to drop it on your tile floor! Porcelain is more transparent and has a finer luster. Because porcelain originated in China, people historically referred to it as “china.” To this day, the term still refers to porcelain dinnerware.
A “china shop,” therefore, is a fragile place—one that requires a bit of awareness. So, to be “like a bull in a china shop” means:
to fail to show sensitivity in a situation that requires it
to be clumsy or aggressive in a delicate situation
to do damage in a social or physical sense due to ignorance or callousness
The phrase first appeared in 1834, in Frederick Marryat’s novel Jacob Faithful. It may have been used before that, since Aesop’s (620-564 BCE) writings include a similar metaphor: an ass in a potter’s shop.
If you use this phrase in your writing, you’ll want to lowercase the word “china” because it is a common noun. You’d capitalize the word when referring to the country of China, as that is a proper noun. For example:
The three-year-old boy was like a bull in a china shop, running and playing wildly among the rows of antique furniture.
Relations between China and Australia have deteriorated in recent years.
Now that you’ve reviewed the meaning, history, and use of the phrase “like a bull in a china shop,” hopefully you’ll find an opportunity to work it into a sentence soon.
And if you need a professional editor to check your work, we can help! Give us a call or send us a message today.
The first time I saw Hamilton, I was blown away by the sweeping story, the diverse casting, the brilliant lyrics, the incredible music, the knockout choreography, my leaping emotions in response—how much it inspires. I had all the big feels. If that weren’t enough, a small detail regarding punctuation captured my editor’s attention. Perhaps you noticed it too. The brilliant Angelica sings:
In a letter I received from you two weeks ago
I noticed a comma in the middle of a phrase
It changed the meaning. Did you intend this?
One stroke and you’ve consumed my waking days
It says:
“My dearest, Angelica”
With a comma after “dearest.”
You’ve written
“My dearest, Angelica”
Ooh, things just got interesting. What’s going to happen here? After all, Hamilton’s married to Angelica’s s-i-s-t-e-r, Eliza! When Angelica first meets Hamilton, she feels an electric current. But her sister also loves Hamilton, and as the oldest, Angelica knows she would be expected to marry rich. This combination leads her to put her own feelings aside and yield to her sister’s desires. But did she really put those feelings aside? She’s thinking about that comma a lot.
You see it, right?
Perhaps you don’t, and if so, you’re not the only one.Most people don’t think too much about commas.
How could a little comma stir the blood so?
If Hamilton had simply written “My dearest Angelica” (without the comma), it would have been a warm, though ordinary, form of address. He might have addressed anyone this way to be polite and congenial.
Dearest is a superlative word, like the word “favorite.” It is the highest in its category. To use a comma before a particular name in conjunction with a superlative is to set that person apart and assign the category to them alone. To say “My dearest, Angelica” (with a comma after dearest) is to say that out of all the beating hearts in this world, Angelica is the dearest to him of all.
Mercy! It does make you wonder what was going on there.
How good is Lin Manuel Miranda, who quickens our hearts with the stroke of a comma?
How you punctuate an abbreviated title (e.g., Mr., Mrs., Rev., Dr., Prof.) depends on the dialect of your client and the dialect of the audience reading the text.
The first proofreading job I did in Australia, I noticed that most of the abbreviated titles in the document didn’t have periods (full stops) after them. I wanted to turn every Dr into Dr., until I learned there was no need to do so. In Australia and the UK, abbreviated titles are treated differently than they are in the US.
In American English, titles are always followed by periods (full stops).
Rev. Richards and Mrs. Gomez are dining with Prof. Osteen.
In British and Australian English, titles are only followed by periods (full stops) if they are missing the final letter of the full word:
Rev. Richards and Mrs Gomez are dining with Prof. Osteen.
Here, we hang on to the periods (full stops) in Rev. and Prof. because these abbreviations are short for Reverend (“v” is not the last letter of reverend) and Professor (“f” is not the last letter of professor.) We refrain from adding a period (full stop) from Mrs as this abbreviation ends in the same letter as the spelled-out word (mistress).
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