Cooked his goose

This incident reported in the Hobart Mercury of 8 October 1856 had feathers flying.

The phrase ‘cook his goose’ is explained thus in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.  “He’s cooked his goose.  He’s done for himself, he’s made a fatal mistake, ruined his chances, “DISHED” himself. “To cook someone’s goose” is to spoil his plans, to ‘fix’ him….. It is apparently 19th century in origin”

In the Brisbane Courier – 8 July 1864 – a correspondent to its Notes and Queries segment wrote that he had found a 17th century manuscript with a story about the King of Swedland (Sweden) “which he considers to explain the vulgar phrase of “Cooking his Goose”.  Vulgar?

Reginald … on the other hand, had a more literal meaning of cooking his goose in mind when he penned this cartoon.

The Queenslander 25 March 1937

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