know which side of one's bread is buttered

English

Verb

know which side of one's bread is buttered (third-person singular simple present knows which side of one's bread is buttered, present participle knowing which side of one's bread is buttered, simple past knew which side of one's bread was buttered or knew which side of one's bread is buttered, past participle known which side of one's bread was buttered or known which side of one's bread is buttered)

  1. Alternative form of know which side one's bread is buttered on.
    • 1906 December 8, San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser, volume LXXII, number 23, San Francisco, Calif.: Frederick Marriott, →OCLC, page 1, column 2:
      The crowd that turned out to welcome Schmitz shows that every one of them knew which side of his bread is buttered and who furnishes their butter.
    • 1937 February 19, “Are the Three R’s, Readin’, Ritin’, and ’Rithmetic to You, or Just 3 R’s?”, in Katherine Crofts, editor, The Northerner, volume X, number 25, Fort Wayne, Ind.: North Side High School, →OCLC, page 2, column 1:
      Most of you have no doubt heard a person described as “not knowing which side of his bread is buttered.” Well, I’m sorry to say that there are some of that species running around loose in our corridors. They don’t take advantage of the opportunity offered them in the finest education found anywhere in the world.
    • 2007 June 28, W. W. G. Hale, chapter 12, in Dance with the Devil: The AIDS Conspiracy, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 128:
      Crenshaw forged a personality based on staying in the middle, and always with an exit strategy. It is said that his secret agenda is to run for Mayor, but he also knew which side of his bread is buttered.
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