Reader question: Please explain this sentence, “lion’s share” in particular: “When the business folded, he took the lion’s share of the assets.” My comments: When business failed, “he” took most of the valuables left, perhaps more than he should. Theirs is, say, a small photo printing business. And when business was so slack that they couldn’t even make enough money to pay for the rent of their little office, they decided to close shop and part company, pardon the pun. He, for instance, took the printing machine and computer, leaving his partners sharing the rest, which consists of a few cheap sitting chairs and a worn out table, as well as clippings and pictures on the wall. In other words, he might have taken more than his fair share. What we are concerned here, though, is the idiom, a lion’s share, and it came from Aesop’s fables. This, from Wikipedia: The early Latin version of Phaedrus begins with the reflection that “Partnership with the mighty is never trustworthy”. It then relates how a cow, a goat and a sheep go hunting together with a lion. When it comes to dividing the spoil, the lion says, “I take the first portion because of my title, since I am addressed as king; the second portion you will assign to me, since I’m your partner; then because I am the stronger, the third will follow me; and an accident will happen to anyone who touches the fourth”. |