{"id":10234,"date":"2022-11-02T20:18:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T20:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=10234"},"modified":"2022-11-02T20:18:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T20:18:52","slug":"born-with-a-silver-spoon-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/born-with-a-silver-spoon-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Born with a Silver Spoon \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you looking for a slightly derogatory way to talk about someone from a wealthy and privileged background? Try saying he was \u201cborn with a silver spoon in his mouth<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll dive into the meaning and origin of this fascinating idiom in this post and show you how to use it.<\/p>\n

Meaning<\/h2>\n

The idiom \u201cborn with a silver spoon in one\u2019s mouth<\/strong>\u201d dates back to the middle ages.<\/p>\n

It refers to a person from a wealthy background<\/u>. The phrase \u201cborn with a silver spoon in your mouth\u201d implies living a life of luxury without a care in the world<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Example Usage<\/h2>\n

It is easy to make mistakes when you first discover a new idiom. These example sentences illustrate how the phrase \u201cborn with a silver spoon\u201d is used in practice \u2014 so you won\u2019t get it wrong:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u201cDon\u2019t be surprised if Robert seems a bit uppity. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth<\/strong> and spends all his time playing golf!\u201d<\/li>\n
  • \u201cI\u2019m up to my eyeballs in debt from student loans, and I still struggle to make ends meet. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth<\/strong>!\u201d<\/li>\n
  • \u201cShe pretends to have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth<\/strong>, but she grew up in a trailer park.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Origin<\/h2>\n

    The idiom \u201cto be born with a silver spoon in one\u2019s mouth\u201d dates back to medieval times<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Ordinary people used wooden spoons, but the rich ate with silver cutlery. Babies from wealthy backgrounds were often gifted a silver spoon during their christenings<\/u>, and this is where the idiom probably comes from.<\/p>\n

    This idiom is widely associated with the European (especially British) aristocracy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    The expression made its way \u201cacross the pond\u201d to the United States, and one of the earliest print examples dates back to the 7th<\/sup> United States Congress in 1801<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt was a common proverb that few lawyers were born with silver spoons in their mouths.\u201d<\/p>\n

    People have since found creative ways to adapt the phrase. Then Texas Governor Ann Richard said that George H W Bush was born with a \u201csilver foot\u201d in his mouth in 1988, for example.<\/p>\n

    This clever phrasing combines the \u201csilver spoon\u201d idiom with the phrase \u201cfoot in mouth,\u201d which means saying something embarrassingly inappropriate.<\/p>\n

    Phrases Similar to Born with a Silver Spoon<\/h2>\n

    There are plenty of other expressions to describe people from wealthy backgrounds:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Cream of the crop<\/strong> \u2014 cream being the \u201crichest\u201d part of milk.<\/li>\n
    • Born into money<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
    • Blue blood<\/strong> \u2014 meaning royalty or aristocracy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Phrases Opposite to Born with a Silver Spoon<\/h2>\n

      You can use these phrases to describe people who weren\u2019t \u201cborn with a silver spoon in their mouths\u201d but who became wealthy later in life:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • Self-made men<\/strong><\/li>\n
      • Rags to riches<\/strong><\/li>\n
      • New money<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        If someone is still poor, you can use the following idioms:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • Lives from hand to mouth<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
        • As poor as a church mouse<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
        • Barely making ends meet<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
        • Doesn\u2019t have two pennies to rub together<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          What Is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n

          The correct saying is \u201cborn with a silver spoon in [his or her] mouth<\/strong>.\u201d It means someone from a wealthy background who lives a life of leisure.<\/p>\n

          Ways People May Say Born with a Silver Spoon Incorrectly<\/h2>\n

          It is important to keep in mind that idioms are never meant to be taken literally. Nobody is actually born with a silver spoon in their mouth.<\/p>\n

          By the same token, it would be incorrect to refer to someone who became wealthy later in life as having been born with a silver spoon in one\u2019s mouth. This idiom is reserved for people from rich families.<\/p>\n

          Acceptable Ways to Say Born with a Silver Spoon<\/h2>\n

          The idiom \u201cborn with a silver spoon in one\u2019s mouth\u201d is well-known in the US and UK. You can use it to describe someone from a rich background who lives a life of leisure and has an air of superiority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Are you looking for a slightly derogatory way to talk about someone from a wealthy and privileged background? Try saying he was \u201cborn with a silver spoon in his mouth.\u201d We\u2019ll dive into the meaning and origin of this fascinating idiom in this post and show you how to use it. Meaning The idiom \u201cborn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10236,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234\/revisions\/10236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}