The phrase “I don’t know him from Adam” suggests that if the person were standing next to the person in Western tradition thought to be earliest human being, the two would be indistinguishable. The phrase “I don’t know her from Adam” can be used to refer to a woman who is similarly unrecognizable, but it’s less common. Another variation: “I wouldn’t know him from Adam’s off ox.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “I Don’t Know Him from Adam”
Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Sylvia calling from Las Vegas. Hello, Sylvia. Hi,
Sylvia. Hi, how are you guys today? All right, what’s up? What’s on your mind? So a while back,
I was at work, and I was having a conversation with one of my co-workers, and we were talking
About another person, not poorly or anything, but we were discussing another person, and I
Used the phrase, well, I don’t know him from Adam. And my co-worker looked at me, and she just said,
Who’s Adam?
And so I had to explain the whole idiom to her and everything.
And then it did make me kind of wonder, who is Adam?
And if you’re talking about a female, do you still use the name Adam?
Good questions.
Wait, so she never heard the idiom?
No.
English is not her first language.
Okay.
Very good.
What is her first language?
Her first language is Russian.
Russian.
Okay.
I find myself explaining a lot of idioms.
I’ll bet. I’ll bet that’s very cool, right?
Yeah, that’s nice of you. That’s really generous.
Yeah.
Going to help the people who need it.
What makes you interested in idioms?
How do you know so much about it that you can explain them to a foreign language speaker?
Well, my father was a writer, a journalist, and a radio man himself.
And so language was kind of a big thing in our house.
And so I got exposed to a lot of phrases.
Oh, okay. A radio journalist. Anybody we know?
Yes. In fact, yes. He actually called into your show about six years ago.
Oh, awesome.
Yeah.
What’s his name?
His name was Alex Burton, and he was the founder and one-time sole member of the Society for the Protection of the Definite Article.
That’s right. He called us about the use of ye, as in like ye only. I remember him.
Yeah, he is pretty famous in Dallas, right?
Am I hearing past tense here?
Yes, unfortunately, he died about four years ago.
Oh, I’m sorry.
The funny thing about his call-in was that that program aired the day before my wedding.
Oh, my goodness.
When I discovered that, it just made it a little more sentimental for me.
Yeah.
Oh, that’s really sweet.
That is really sweet.
Yeah.
It was great hearing him because it was definitely my dad.
He was one to pontificate.
When it sounds like he’s passed on the language interest, which is a real plus.
Right.
Yes.
I remember he was delightful.
Well, it’s great to meet you, Sylvia, over the phone.
And Adam, I mean, I’m assuming that you have a pretty good guess about which Adam it is.
Well, my first guess was Adam from Adam and Eve, which made me wonder, if you’re talking about a female, would you use the word Eve?
Right.
Or the name Eve?
Right.
Right.
And that is correct.
You’re talking about if you had two people side by side, you wouldn’t be able to recognize the person,
Even if you were comparing that person to somebody who is so remote, so far back in human tradition,
That you wouldn’t recognize either Adam or that person.
That expression has been around since the 18th century, as I recall, Grant.
Okay.
And it’s applied to women far less.
I don’t know her from Adam.
Because it’s become sort of a stock phrase, such a cliche that people don’t really analyze it that much.
But sometimes once somebody says that about a woman, I wouldn’t know her from Adam.
Then they might jokingly add, or Eve.
Right, but they don’t usually start with Eve.
Right, right. It’s more like an afterthought.
So you can use either one, and the idea comes across.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
I don’t know her from Adam is what you’re going to hear first.
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean, that’s really, they don’t have a resemblance at all, you know?
The guy with the fig leaf and that one.
I mean, you don’t know her at all.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, Adam may be the one name that you can bring up that everyone has heard of, right?
Right.
Right.
Yeah, more so than a bed and a go, probably.
Well, Sylvia, it’s a delight to talk with you.
Oh, it was wonderful getting to speak with you and carry on the tradition.
Thank you so much, guys.
Bye-bye.
Okay.
Thanks, Sylvia.
Bye-bye.
Have a good one.
We know that language interest is intergenerational,
And we know that you sit at the table or on the couch or in the car
And you talk with your family about things, funny things, language things.
Share those with us.
We’d love to hear about them.
Email words@waywordradio.org.
My dad uses the expression “doesn’t know from Adam”.