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Why do we say the phrase "fit as a fiddle"?

violin.jpgQuestion

Why do we say the phrase “fit as a fiddle”? How fit is a fiddle?
Steve, Great Dunmow

Answer

** Definitive **
Name: David, Tooting
Qualification: I collect phrase books
Answer: It was a medieval phrase when the fittest person around was the fiddler – the jester who played the violin to the court. The original phrase was “as fit as a fiddler”.

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