dont look a gift horse in the mouth...?

The Saying: DON'T LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH.

Who Said It: St. Jerome

When: 400 A.D.

The Story behind It: This proverb is based on the fact that a horse's value is determined by his age, which, in turn, can be roughly determined by an examination of his teeth. The message conveyed is that a gift should be appreciated for the thought and spirit behind it, not according to its value. St. Jerome, who never accepted payment for his writings, first used the phrase in reply to his literary critics. His exact words: "Never inspect the teeth of a gift horse."

By looking at a horses teeth you can tell how old it is.

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth" is said in order to discourage too great an inspection of a gift, which might be less valuable than first thought.

To those who know about horses the analogy is clear; the age of a horse is well mirrored in the state of its teeth. Too close an inspection could result in a nasty surprise with the animal proving to be "long in the tooth".

"Long in the tooth," meaning "old," was originally used to describe horses. As horses age, their gums recede, giving the impression that their teeth are growing. The longer the teeth look, the older the horse.

The origin is from the story of the Trojan horse, in which a large wooden statue of a horse was presented as a "peace offering" to the city of troy when in actuality it contained soldiers that would attack when the "gift" was brought inside the city walls.

Because looking in a horses mouth is a way of checking it's health. And in olden times if someone gave you a horse, you were expected to just thank them, but if you looked in the horses mouth, it was an insult to the one that gave it to you.

People look at a horses teeth to tell their age. A horse is a horse so to speak.

what looks like, the inside of it's mouth? check the teeth. Besides a gift shouldn't be examined too closely.

One way to tell a horse's age is to examine its teeth.....so it would be insulting if someone gave you a horse and you checked to see how old it was.........(in front of them)....~

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