"Speak your Peace/Piece"
- Thread starter .Shane.
- Start date
Xanikk999
History junkie
Ive never seen it typed "Speak your peace".
And from saying it, it makes more sense to say "speak your piece".
And from saying it, it makes more sense to say "speak your piece".
It's always been "Speak your piece" to me, too.
I think it makes sense either way. Its how you interpret the saying.
For example, I've always took it to mean "Speak your peace" meaning that we're getting things off our chest and thus, restore a state of peace or peacefulness. Basically, that "speaking your peace" leads to resolution or, at least, your final chance to get your view out.
Mirc
Not mIRC!!!
I vote for option 3:
"Because I'm not a native English speaker, I've never heard this expression before".
However, speak your piece makes more sense to me.
"Because I'm not a native English speaker, I've never heard this expression before".
However, speak your piece makes more sense to me.
scipian
Czar
I've always thought it was peace. As in, speak what you want to say and relieve yourself by doing so.
Also, Google gets 58,800 hits for peace while only 25,800 for piece.
Also, Google gets 58,800 hits for peace while only 25,800 for piece.
Sophie 378
Avvie by ybbor
I thought it was piece, as in "giving someone a piece of your mind", or "say your bit (and then let others say theirs)"
Otoh, a brief google indicates that it could well be a shortened form of the phrase "speak now or forever hold your peace".
(Crosspost)
Otoh, a brief google indicates that it could well be a shortened form of the phrase "speak now or forever hold your peace".
(Crosspost)
Kan' Sharuminar
Fluffy
I've never heard 'speak your peace', it just doesn't seem to make sense to me. 'Speak you piece' - as in, 'say what you have to say', does though.
Urederra
Mostly harmless
I have never heard either of them, and I thought that "speak your peace" really meant "speak at your own peace", Something like "Calm down, don't get nervous, relax and speak quietly"
Things foreigners missunderstand!
Things foreigners missunderstand!
ybbor
Will not change his avata
I've always thought it as peace.
answers.com (citing The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms) however, seems to say piece.
answers.com (citing The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms) however, seems to say piece.
Till
Adventurer
This seems to fall into the same category as "Hear hear!", which i have seen being turned into "Here here!", on occasion. Voted piece.
No need to be an ass in what is otherwise a silly thread.
Its not a matter of spelling, but a matter of interpretation or context.
This one I don't understand. What is the reasoning behind it possibly being "hear hear"?
Till
Adventurer
Xenocrates
Deity
The correct answer is "speak your peas". It originates in the legume-worshipping culture of the high Andes and was imported to the UK by a talking blue whale in 1766. How the blue whale got into my pyjamas I'll never know. 
Huraah for etymology
.
Otherwise it's piece.
Huraah for etymology
.Otherwise it's piece.
Illiteracy then, causing misinterpretation. Reading a few books would solve the problem. I remember wondering about a phrase such as this when I was a little boy, and my parents generally solved the problem, if it lasted long enough after I'd read a book or two. Phrases usually crop up.
bathsheba666
Fast 'n Bulbous
Eventually, a phrase is mis-spelled by enough illiterates that the new usage is adopted as widespread.
What's really funny is when the illiterates round on the correct usage, assuming it is a spelling failure.
What's really funny is when the illiterates round on the correct usage, assuming it is a spelling failure.
