Etymology Journal ยท H
Hay is for horses
Meaning
- A sharp, clever retort used whenever someone says the word 'hey'. It is usually deployed by parents or teachers to remind children of their manners.
Sassy, pedagogical, witty
Used in a sentence
- Child: Hey! Parent: Hay is for horses and grass is for cows.
- Student: Hey! Teacher: Hay is for horses.
- I shouted hey across the yard, and he yelled back that hay is for horses.
The backstory
This is a classic dad-joke and pun. It relies on the phonetic similarity between the greeting 'hey' and the feed 'hay', turning a casual greeting into a grammar lesson.
Heard in
Nationwide
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