No news is good news

[VannaB]

Now I always thought the phrase 'No news is good news' meant that whatever you hear will be bad news. Ever the pessimist as I was born on a Wednesday! However, does it mean this, or does it in fact mean that if you haven't received any news yet then that is a good thing? What does everyone think? May as well put what day of the week you were born too-see if it's us Wednesday folk who are the pessimists!!

[hazelcs]

hi i was born on a friday - this means the same as "bad news travels fast" if it is good news you will hear about it sometime, or no news and it is a good thing.

[andy-hughes]

I think this phrase comes from the First World War, when messages of husbands and fathers missing or killed in action came by telegram, delivered by the postman.

If the postman didn't deliver to your house, then there was no news from the War Office, so the man of the house was, in theory at least, still alive - hence, no news is good news.

[jno]

agree with andy - most news you hear is bad news of some sort, so if you don't hear anything it means nothing bad has happened.

[lankeela]

Sunday's child - if you are expecting the worst then if you haven't heard anything, no news means its still good news until you hear otherwise.

Totally irrelevant, but in the world of show dogs (collies) someone imported several dogs from New Zealand. Some people in this country did not like this type of dog, and one breeder gave his dog the registered name of 'No NZ is Good News' which I still think is the cleverest name I have ever heard.