As wise as a man of Gotham.

Gotham lies in the south-west angle of Nottinghamshire, and is noted for nothing so mush as the story of its wise men, who attempted to hedge in the cuckoo. At Court-hill, in this parish, there is a bush that still bears the name of the cuckoo-bush; and there is an ancient book, full of the blunders of the men of Gotham. Whence a man of Gotham is, in other words, a fool, or simple fellow.

Entry taken from Provincial Glossary, edited by Francis Grose.

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Northumberland
He has the Newcastle bur in his throat

Nottinghamshire
As wise as a man of Gotham

Oxfordshire
Banbury cheese

Nearby

Nottinghamshire in Nuttal Encyclopædia

Antique pictures from Nottinghamshire