"At sixes and sevens" is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

idiom used to describe a condition of confusion or disarray.

History

Origin and early history

It is not known for certain, but the most likely origin of the phrase is the

dice game Dice games are games that use or incorporate one or more dice as their sole or central component, usually as a random device. The following are games which largely, if not entirely, depend on dice: Collectible dice games Patterned after the su ...

" hazard", a more complicated version of the modern game of

craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...

Michael Quinion Michael Quinion (born c. 1943) is a British etymologist and writer. He ran World Wide Words, a website devoted to linguistics. He graduated from Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied physical sciences and after which he joined BBC radio as a ...

, a British etymologist, writing on his website on linguistics, says, "It is thought that the expression was originally ''to set on cinque and sice'' (from the French numerals for five and six). These were apparently the most risky numbers to shoot for ('to set on') and anyone who tried for them was considered careless or confused." A similar phrase, "to set the world on six and seven", is used by Geoffrey Chaucer in his ''

Troilus and Criseyde ''Troilus and Criseyde'' () is an epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the siege of Troy. It was written in '' rime royale'' a ...

''. It dates from the mid-1380s and seems from its context to mean "to hazard the world" or "to risk one's life".

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

uses a similar phrase in '' Richard II'' (around 1595), "But time will not permit: all is uneven, And every thing is left at six and seven". The phrase is also used in Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' (1878), where Captain Corcoran, the ship's Commander, is confused as to what choices to make in his life, and exclaims in the opening song of Act II, "Fair moon, to thee I sing, bright regent of the heavens, say, why is everything either at sixes or at sevens?" In H.G. Wells' preface to his

The Outline of History ''The Outline of History'', subtitled either "The Whole Story of Man" or "Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind", is a work by H. G. Wells chronicling the history of the world from the origin of the Earth to the First World War. It appear ...

(1919), entitled "The Story and Aim of the Outline of History," he writes: "All the people who were interested in these league of nations projects were at sixes and sevens among themselves because they had the most vague, heterogenous and untidy assumptions about what the world of men was, what it had been, and therefore of what it could be." In chapter three of the 1926 ''

Clouds of Witness ''Clouds of Witness'' is a 1926 mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the second in her series featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. In the United States the novel was first published in 1927 under the title ''Clouds of Witnesses''. It was adapted for te ...

'' by

Dorothy Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

the maid, Ellen, says "Anyhow, it was all at sixes and sevens for a day or two, and then her ladyship shuts herself up in her room and won't let me go into her wardrobe."Sayers, Dorothy. ''

''. Victor Gollancz Ltd. (1926) p. 57 In The Collector by John Fowles Clegg says "she had me all at sixes and sevens that evening".

Later history

Quinion notes a false but "widely believed" story on "where the phrase at sixes and sevens came from, and what it really means". It is sometimes said to derive from a dispute between two City of London trade guilds or livery companies–The

Merchant Taylors Company ] The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prio ...

and the Worshipful Company of Skinners, Skinners Company. The two argued over sixth place in the

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...

. In 1484, the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

Sir Robert Billesden decided that the companies would swap between sixth and seventh place on an annual basis. This story is disproved as a source, according to Quinion, by the "brute force of the evidence" that the phrase was in use and that it occurred in Chaucer a century before the trade guild dispute was decided. The phrase appears in a few songs, including "

Don't Cry for Me Argentina "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is a song recorded by Julie Covington for the 1976 concept album '' Evita'', later included in the 1978 musical of the same name. The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they wer ...

" from the musical '' Evita;'' "Happy Endings" from the 1977 film '' New York, New York''; "

Raoul and the Kings of Spain ''Raoul and the Kings of Spain'' is the fifth studio album by British pop rock band Tears for Fears, released on 10 October 1995 by Epic Records. Like the band's previous album, ''Elemental'' (1993), it is essentially a solo effort by Roland Or ...

" from

Tears for Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new ...

; and "Playing With Fire" by Stereo MCs. The eleventh studio album from

Strange Music Strange Music is an American independent record label specializing in hip hop music and founded by Tech N9ne and Travis O'Guin in 1999. History In 2009 Skatterman & Snug Brim fulfilled their commitment to Strange Music and left the label. In ...

front man

Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...

was entitled "All 6's and 7's". The song "Sixes and Sevens" was cowritten and sung by Robert Plant. It also appears in the Rolling Stones' song "Tumbling Dice". The phrase is also used in the 1978 movie ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

'', when Miss One gives Dorothy the silver slippers and comments, "Oh, don't be all sixes and sevens, honey" to Dorothy as Dorothy is in a state of confusion after killing the Wicked Witch of the East. It is also found in the 1993 film ''

The Remains of the Day ''The Remains of the Day'' is a 1989 novel by the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishiguro. The protagonist, Stevens, is a butler with a long record of service at Darlington Hall, a stately home near Oxford, ...

''. It is also mentioned in the 2002 film '' Goldmember'' by Mike Myers' character Austin Powers to his dad, who at the time were speaking "English English": "oh, the one who was all sixes and sevens?" During the second episode of season five of the HBO series '' Six Feet Under'', George uses the phrase to describe his wife's attitude towards him. The phrase occurs in Sabina's opening monologue from

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...

's 1942 Pulitzer Prize winning play ''

The Skin of Our Teeth ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a play by Thornton Wilder that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, ...

:'' "The whole world's at sixes and sevens, and why the house hasn't fallen down about our ears long ago is a miracle to me."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:At Sixes And Sevens British English idioms English-language idioms