Dictionary

a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down en · X

Pronunciation

• /ə ˈspuːnfəl əv ˈʃʊɡə(ɹ)ˌhɛlps ðə ˈmɛdɪsɪn ɡoʊ ˌdaʊn/

Etymology

From the Sherman Brothers' 1964 song "A Spoonful of Sugar".

Meanings

1. An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant when a pleasant aspect is deliberately introduced.
   • 2004, John Hoover, How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive... Without Killing Your Boss, Career Press, →ISBN, page 11, If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a barrel of laughs can wash down the big pills you might need to swallow.
   • It put some fun into the tedious business of preparing for a presidential debate. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, right? 2001, Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir, Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 319:
   • One is known as the "sweetening parable," that is to say a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Thus, when the aim is to preach to the people, to guide them along the "bitter," arduous path of upholding burdensome precepts and prohibitions, a tale can lighten the load, make the "medicine" easier "to swallow." 1999, Eli Yassif, The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 372:

Forms

Relateds

sugarcoat a bitter pill

Translations (7)

is smá sykur hjálpar til við að halda lækninum frá (An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant.) · es un poquito de azúcar toda purga endulzará (An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant.) · fr un morceau de sucre aide la médecine à couler (An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant.) · da lidt sukker i skeen, hvis din medicin er sur (An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant.) · de ein Löffelchen voll Zucker bittre Medizin versüßt (An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant.) · it un poco di zucchero la pillola va giù (An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant.) · fi lääkkeen karvaan sä sokerilla makeaksi saat (An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant.)