Telling it to the marines

By Hermione Gray

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'TELL it to the marines' is used as an expression of contempt when told some implausible story.

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But why tell it to the marines, rather than the army or the air force Is it because being sent to sea for weeks on end makes you a little more accepting of everything you're told

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According to the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, the marines were 'horse marines', an imaginary cavalry regiment. This humorous image of soldiers mounted on horseback on board ship stood for ineptitude or people out of their natural element.

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Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable tells how the phrase was originated by King Charles II. According to legend, Samuel Pepys was retelling tales told to him by the navy and he happened to mention flying fish. Many in the court were sceptical, but a naval officer concurred, saying that he, too, had seen these marvellous fish.

The king believed him, saying, 'From the very nature of their calling, no class of our subjects can have so wide a knowledge of seas and land as the officer and men of Our Loyal Maritime Regiment. Henceforward, ere ever we cast doubts upon a tale that lacks likelihood, we will first tell it to the Marines.'

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Byron, in 1923, observed, 'That will do for the marines, but the sailors won't believe it.' And the following year, Scott used the phrase, 'Tell that to the marines - the sailors won't believe it!' in Redgauntlet.