2006-11-12 09:01:36 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I was told it comes from a couple of pubs near Milton Keynes in the UK .. Stoney Stratford.. I think (from memory) they always tried to out do each other with wild stories
2006-11-12 09:06:00 · answer #1 · answered by Paul 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
like paul says it's the **** inn and the bull pub which are about 100 yards from each other. I think that the story is that a man would tell a story in the **** inn and by the time he got to the bull pub the story had escalated out of control( ie the fish was now this big)
2006-11-12 09:17:40 · answer #2 · answered by pete the panda 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The expression may come from a folk tale involving these two animals, or from the name of an English inn where travelers told such tales. W.S. Gilbert used it in The Yeomen of the Guard (1888), where Jack Point and Wilfred the Jailer make up a story about the hero's fictitious death: "Tell a tale of **** and bull, Of convincing detail full"
2006-11-12 09:04:41 · answer #3 · answered by ng51online 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It supposedly comes from stories that were told in the barrooms at the C*ck Hotel and the B*ll Hotel, on the high street of Stony Stratford, England. The phrase means an improbable account.
2006-11-12 10:26:54 · answer #4 · answered by pat z 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A web site (below) says it may com from the inn named The C o c k and Bull. But that's in some doubt.
2006-11-12 09:17:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
see the link for all the current theories on this
(actually you'll need to alter the link as the yahoo ultra sensitive bad word filter has editied out the **** and put **** instead)
2006-11-12 09:03:38 · answer #6 · answered by rchlbsxy2 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋