Silly As a Goose

There is an old saying that I used to hear when I was young that described someone who did something that was not very smart. In fact, I remember hearing my mother use this little phrase. She would say, “He doesn’t have the sense that God gave a goose.” I understand that when that phrase is used that the person being referred to has made a bone headed move. What I have always wondered is, are geese stupid creatures? I grew up on a farm, but.we didn’t raise geese. I do know that some geese can be very mean, and you don’t want to mess with them when they are angry. I suppose they are territorial and become angry when someone threatens to violate their space.

I have also heard the term, “silly as a goose”. Have you ever seen a goose that you would consider silly? Are geese sillier than other animals? I think monkeys are sillier than geese. Monkeys make me laugh. Why don’t we say, “You are sillier than a monkey”? That makes more sense to me. Geese seem to get a bad rap.

What about the term “goose egg”? What does that mean? In mathematical terms goose egg means zero, a big fat nothing. When we fall and get a bump on our heads it is called a goose egg. That is a somewhat negative term, I think. It seems that nothing good is said about geese.

There is one positive thing that I can think of that comes from the goose world. That is the character, Mother Goose. Who doesn’t like Mother Goose? Children for many years have enjoyed hearing stories read to them from the Mother Goose book. I always looked favorably on the old, plump goose that we all know as Mother Goose. She seemed very nice, not silly nor senseless. She was very loving and entertaining.

Maybe there are some silly geese, but I don’t think we should judge all geese just because of a few goose eggs. Nor should we judge all people negatively due to the mistakes of a few. There are a lot of good eggs in the world. By the way, Mother Goose is buried in a cemetery in Boston. I saw her tombstone.