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Who loves his glass without a G, Take away L and that is he.

Who loves his glass without a G, Take away L and that is he.
Traditional

Historical period not yet established

Meaning in plain English

Removing G from glass gives lass, and removing L from lass gives ass. The wordplay mocks a person who becomes foolish through romantic attachment, but the verbal trick does not prove its judgment about love.

What the words are saying

The sentence contains a small instruction disguised as a judgment. Its first subtraction changes glass into lass, so the lover is imagined as loving a young woman. The next subtraction changes lass into ass, supplying the insult aimed at the lover. A modern reading can examine how affection might cloud a particular judgment without accepting a general accusation against lovers or women. The neatness of the letter trick may make the conclusion memorable, yet contributes no evidence that it is true. Its chief interest is the way linguistic cleverness turns a debatable opinion into a compact and easily repeated joke.

Everyday example

A friend uses the pun to tease someone who agrees with every opinion voiced by a crush.

When to use it

Use it as an example of wordplay carrying a questionable judgment.

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What it does not mean

Romantic attachment does not make someone foolish, and the gendered joke should not become a general accusation.

Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Traditional
Attribution: traditional
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates.
Recorded source
A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases

Entry 678 · Glass

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.

Culture
English