what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander en · X
Etymology
1670s, figuratively using goose/gander for women and men, and literally meaning that the same sauce applies equally well to cooked goose, regardless of sex. Early forms include “as deep drinketh the goose as the gander” (1562) and similar “As well for the coowe calfe as for the bull” (1549). The expression appears in Dickens when a spy attempting to evade culpability insists, “For you cannot sarse the goose and not the gander.”
Meanings
-
If something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another (often of the opposite gender).
That that's good sauce for a goose, is good for a gander.
[1678, John Ray, Collection of English Proverbs, 2nd edition, Cambridge, page 48:What is sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose and the arguments that he produces against my suggestion apply with double force to his.
1945, Herbert Walter Fairman, “An Introduction to the Study of Ptolemaic Signs and Their Values”, in Le Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, volume 43, page 80:[I]t is, as I may ſo ſay, a ſavvcy Plot: and vve all knovv, moſt Reverend Fathers, that vvhat is ſavvce for a Gooſe is ſavvce for a Gander: Therefore, I ſay, as thoſe bloud-thirſty Ganders of the conſpiracy vvould have deſtroyed us Geeſe of the Senate, let us make haſte to deſtroy them, ſo I humbly move for hanging— […]
1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act V, scene [ii], page 61:[…] sawce which is good for the Goose, I hope will be good for the Gander […]
[1674, Richard Head, The English Rogue, Part 3, page 4:
- One who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment.
Antonyms
quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi
Deriveds
sauce for the goose · what's good for the goose is good for the gander
Descendants
sauce bonne pour l'oie est bonne pour le jars
Synonyms
Translations (12)
es lo que es bueno para el pavo, es bueno para la pava (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · eo saŭco por la anserino ankaŭ estas saŭco por la viransero (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · de was dem einen recht ist, ist dem anderen billig (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · fi ei köyhänkään suu tuohesta ole (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · fr sauce bonne pour l'oie est bonne pour le jars (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · hu ami nekem jó, legyen neked is jó (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · tr aynı tas aynı hamam (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · hu ami jó az egyiknek, jó a másiknak is (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · hu ami az egyiknek szabad, szabad a másiknak is (legyen) (one who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment) · nl gelijke monniken, gelijke kappen (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · pt pau que dá em Chico, dá em Francisco (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another) · it quel che vale per l’uno vale anche per l’altro (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another)
wikipedia: Euphues and his England · wikipedia: John Heywood · wikipedia: John Lyly