"more ******* Than You Can Shake A Stick At"

[hammerman]

Was talking about this in the pub yesterday...when you say something like "he's got more money than you can shake a stick at"

Any ideas where it comes from ?

[Bathsheba]

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sha2.htm
Hope this helps
x x

[Bert]

I wouldn't use the expression with an uncountable concept such as 'money' or, for example, salt or sugar. The asterisks have to stand for a countable quantity such as taverns as mentioned in the link provided by Bathsheba. The link suggests that nobody knows the origin of the expression, though its first recorded use is provided. So it's not in the Bible or Shakespeare. I've always visualised the expression -- a man with a stick in his hand, shaking it vigorously. You can easily see that if every shake counts as one of whatever it is he's shaking it at, the number of them will soon be very large indeed.

[dannyk13]

Monkeys

[Canary42]

Where's Susie Dent when you need her ?

[guilliebrougues]

Never heard of that expression. Usually the saying is He/ She has got more money than sense.