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You are here: Home / Language / What Does “No Spring Chicken” Mean and Where Did the Expression For Old People Come From?

What Does “No Spring Chicken” Mean and Where Did the Expression For Old People Come From?

April 13, 2020 by Karen Hill

To say someone is “no spring chicken” is to suggest he or she is past his or her physical prime.

This expression grew from a time in New England before raising chickens had become the cruelly sophisticated industry it is today.

Chickens came from free-range family farms with no incubators or warm hen houses, which meant baby chicks couldn’t be hatched or raised in the winter.

The prime price for chickens sold during the summer was for those born the previous spring.

Anything older and less succulent that was pawned off as part of the spring crop was quickly identified by shrewd shoppers as “no spring chicken,” or not as young as what was being presented.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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