Curry favour

To curry favour with someone is to try to gain their approval through use of flattery.

Have you ever tried to curry favour with your boss?  Did you think it had something to do with the spicy Indian dish?

You might be surprised to know it has more to do with grooming a chestnut horse!

The expression comes from the less commonly known meaning of curry - to groom a horse as with a currycomb.

This form of ‘curry’ has its origins in Old French from the Latin conredare meaning prepare or get ready (it seems to be the same base as the word ‘ready’).

Currycomb Le Roman de Fauvel was a chestnut horse in a 14th century French story.

Fauvel represented hypocrisy and deceit and was, rubbed down, or curried, by other characters, who wanted to get on his side.

The French estriller fauvel became popularly used to mean gain favour through smooth talk.

It was loosely translated into English as ‘curry fauvel’. The closeness in sound between fauvel and favour is thought to be how the expression became the ‘curry favour’ we still know.