Fine as frog hair

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Meaning

Exceptionally fine, delicate, excellent, or in very good spirits. Regional, humorous, and now relatively obscure Regional use: United States, especially Southern, South Midland, Appalachian, and Ozark speech.

Origin

An American comic simile documented by 1865. Its joke depends on frogs ordinarily having no hair: anything imagined as frog hair must be vanishingly fine. Fine can describe slenderness or excellence, allowing the phrase to praise workmanship or answer a question about one's wellbeing. DARE marks frog hair in the relevant sense chiefly Southern and South Midland, and later speakers elaborated it with split four ways.

Variants

  • fine as frog's hair
  • fine as frog hair split four ways
  • finer than frog hair
  • fine as frog hair and twice as hard to split

Usage Examples

  • The engraver's lines are fine as frog hair but still perfectly even.
  • Ask Uncle Ray how he feels and he will say, 'Fine as frog hair split four ways.'

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