Notes & Queries Archive
QUERY1851

At Sixes and Sevens

By D. C.

Shakspeare uses the well-known adage—"at sixes and sevens;" Bacon, Hudibras, Arbuthnot, Swift, all use the proverb. Why should sixes and sevens be more congruous with disorder than "twos and threes?" and whence comes the saying?

Topics: Proverbs, Literature