how many mickles make a muckle???

Question

and what the hell are they???i have heard the saying but havn;t a clue what it means

Answer 1

Many, many mickles.....

I've never even heard the saying, so I can't tell you. I just couldn't resist adding a few more M's.....

Answer 2

The answer is within your question. In other words 'many'.

It apparently comes from George Washington in 1793 who said it came from an old Scot's adage.

Refer to the link for more information.

Extract:

But neither boats nor beans explain some expressions. Whether referring to military strategy or political maneuvering, George Washington liked to say or write, as he did in 1793, that “there is no adage more true than an old Scotch one, that ‘many mickles make a muckle.’” Anyone who heard him use the saying knew what he meant: If you attend to the small things, the big thing will be taken care of. The problem, according to Bartlett Jere Whiting, who wrote Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, is that the expression has “the almost fatal flaw of failure to make sense.” In Washington’s mind, “mickles” were small things that added up to a big thing, a “muckle.” Whiting says “mickle is a large amount and muckle is a dialect variant of mickle, with no change of meaning. Thus Washington’s adage means that ‘Many greats make a great,’ which is not what he had in mind.”

Answer 3

Nine, precisely. They are the Mickle family, Ben, Damien, Rabbit, Terence, Jonathan, Sarah, Aunt Stella and Papa and Mama- a large family with a small business. They make one muckle after another, it's a kind of small dwelling, a cross between a shed and a mud hut, a less successful cousin of the Scots croft, much more spacious, but very drafty.

Answer 4

wot the feck is a mickle or a muckle? im the same as u mate no idea it sounds like some thing my grandad would say! im scottish never heard of a mickle but muckle means huge.

Answer 5

it is the equivalent of the proverb, preserve the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. So, of direction there is not any answer, it extremely is in basic terms 'many'. the place I come from (Angus), this is stated 'mony a mickle maks a muckle' and is an straightforward expression.

Answer 6

its not many its mony
a muckle is a lot and a mickle is a little
so many little things make a lot of things.
It usually refers to money .

Answer 7

a very large amount' a mickle is a large amount of anything and a mickle is the quantity and by the way are you taking the mick?

Answer 8

OK, here's what I found - beats me too!
Synonyms for muckle
Noun
1. batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, muckle, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad, whole lot, whole slew, large indefinite quantity, large indefinite amount
usage: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost plenty"

Answer 9

Any decent Scotsman worth his weight in Glen Fiddich would be able to tell you the REAL answer to this perplexing question!
(and apologies to all Scotsmen - I think I've mis-spelt Fiddich - but it IS four in the morning!)

Answer 10

millions of muckles