A wigwam for a goose's bridle explained

A wigwam for a goose's bridle is a phrase, meaning something absurd or a nonsense object, or latterly "none of your business". It is an old English phrase from the United Kingdom which later found particular favour in Australia, where its first recorded use is in 1917,^[1] and also in New Zealand.^[2] An obscure variation has been attributed to the mid-1900s in Canada's Nova Scotia province. It has been reported that mundane household enquiries like "what's for dinner?" could draw the response "bits for gooses' bridles".

UK origins

An early recorded use is found in an 1836 article in The New Monthly Magazine, where the phrase is used by an English sailor whose ship was berthed in Calcutta.^[3]

Originally, the phrase was "a whim-wham for a goose's bridle", with "whim-wham" a word meaning "a fanciful or fantastic object". The phrase was deliberately absurd as a goose would never wear a bridle. Folk etymology converted the word "whim-wham"—a word that was no longer much used—to "wigwam", an Ojibwa word for a domed single-room dwelling used by Native Americans. This change retained the phrase's absurd meaning and sense.^[4]

Australian use

In Australia, a common usage is in response to an inquiry such as Q. "What are you making?", A. "A wigwam for a goose's bridle".^[5] The rejoinder was a code for "Mind your own business" and children acquired this pragmatic knowledge after repeated discourse with their parents ended with this response.^[6] It was a common family saying.^[7]

The phrase is believed to be less popular than it once was.^[8]

Other variations of the phrase

• "Whim wham for ducks to sit on." (Stated by a woman of English heritage, first of six born (1907) in the US, in Rocks Springs, Wyoming)
• "Whim whams to wind the sun up." (Said by an Englishman of Chester, Cheshire in the years 1930–1940)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms - Australian National Dictionary Centre - ANU . 30 April 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170525042330/http://andc.anu.edu.au/australian-words/meanings-origins/w . 25 May 2017 . dead .
2. Web site: Tony Beyer . Manukau in Poetry . Manukau Libraries . 13 June 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081014024816/http://www.manukau-libraries.govt.nz/poetry/beyer.php . 14 October 2008 .
3. Book: Walsh, Robert. https://books.google.com/books?id=48L1w21XYI4C&q=%22wigwam+for+a+goose's+bridle%22&pg=PA590 . Scene in Calcutta. 590. Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art. 1836. 2005 . Eliakim Littell. John Jay Smith. E Little . Philadelphia. First published in The New Monthly Magazine
4. All my eye and Betty Martin! The folk etymology of some popular idioms . Frederick . Ludowyk . OzWords . October 1996 . Australian National University : Australian National Dictionary Centre . 13 June 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081011093826/http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/pubs/ozwords/October_96/index.html . 11 October 2008 . live .
5. Book: Seal, Graham. The Lingo: Listening to Australian English . 107. UNSW Press. 1999. 13 June 2008 . 978-0-86840-680-0.
6. Book: Wajnryb, Ruth. Cheerio Tom, Dick and Harry: Despatches from the Hospice of Fading Words. 79. Allen & Unwin. 2008. 13 June 2008. 978-1-74114-993-7.
7. Web site: Fish Trout: Children's Folklore. . 13 June 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080723073622/http://www.nla.gov.au/fishtrout/. 23 July 2008 . live.
8. News: Aussie lingo facing extinction. News Ltd . Chesterton . Ray. 9 October 2006. 13 June 2008.