Sheep in wool's clothing

[Alice Faber]

The friend who queried just posted the phrase. The examples I found were
pretty much in rants, so I can't really guess the progression from "wolf
in sheep's clothing" to "sheep in wolf's clothing" to "sheep in wool's
clothing".

On 9/17/12 8:50 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> Was this intentional?  Might it mean that Scott Brown wears expensive
> suits, but is an empty suit?
>
> Only the first question above is intentionally serious.
>
> But isn't there some tradition about sheep wearing wool?  Perhaps
> their own -- On the model of the tale of the woman who had two
> chickens, one becoming ill, she killed the second to make chicken
> soup for the first, I imagine the owner of a sheep that was freezing,
> so he sheared it and for it knitted a wool sweater.
>
> There are, unsurprisingly, images of sheep wearing wool sweaters, for
> example
> http://neverdividebyzero.com/sheep-wearing-wool-sweater/
>
> When Shaun the sheep was shorn in Wallace and Gromit's "A Close
> Shave", was he then dressed in something knitted from his wool?
>
>  From effete Eastern Massachusetts,
> Joel
>
> At 9/17/2012 02:32 PM, Alice Faber wrote:
>> A friend on another list asked about the following:
>> "Scott Brown is just a sheep in wool's clothing ..."
>>
>> It's not in the eggcorn database. A quick googling revealed a few punny
>> sites (there's a knitting/fiber arts blog called "a sheep in wool's
>> clothing, for instance), as well as some apparently non-ironic uses
>> (albeit in impassioned writing).
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
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Alice Faber                                       faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                            tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                               fax (203) 865-8963

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org