Bad things may be specified as accidents, deaths, or other mishaps; cf. MISFORTUNES
never come singly. This is a well-attested folk superstition on both sides of the Atlantic: 1891
Notes & Queries 7th Ser. XII. 489 One of my servants having accidentally broken a glass
shade, asked for two other articles of little value, a wine bottle and jam crock, that she might
break them, and so prevent the two other accidents. .. which would otherwise follow. Cf.
THIRD time lucky.
1997 D. HANSEN Sole Survivor xvi. 82 He was a superstitious man and believed
that bad joss always struck in threes. 2002 Times 20 Mar. 22 They say bad things come in
threes. I don’t know who the they are that say this, mind, or how they found out that that
was how bad things came,.. but.. last weekend, they were spot on. misfortune;
superstitionThere is no such thing as BAD weather, only the wrong clothes1980 Washington Post 15 Feb. D1 ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad
clothes,’ said Peterson. ‘You want to wear the least you can, and still not get frost-bitten.’
1992 Daily Telegraph 23 Sept. 13 As someone once said, there is no such thing as bad
weather, only the wrong clothes. 2006 Times 4 Nov 23 Autumn bares its fangs at last.
Well, no such thing as bad weather: only bad clothing. weatherA BAD workman blames his toolsCf. late 13th-cent. Fr. mauvés ovriers ne trovera ja bon hostill, a bad workman will never
find a good tool.
1611 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French & English s.v. Outil, A bungler cannot find (or fit
himselfe with) good tooles. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 67 Never had ill
workeman good tooles. 1859 S. SMILES Self-Help iv. It is proverbial that the bad
workman never yet had a good tool. 1940 J. G. COZZENS Ask Me Tomorrow vii. I’ve
read somewhere that a poor workman quarrels with his tools. 1979 A. FOX Threat Signal
Red XV. Damn! Dropped the screwdriver... Bad workmen blame their tools. 2001
Washington Times 19 Aug. B8 ‘Virtuous War’ starts off with a bad idea, proceeds to a
pair of disasters, then gets worse. As for the fundamental reason for its failure—for now
let’s just say, it’s a poor workman who blames his lousy tools. efficiency and
inefficiency; workbad see also give a DOG a bad name and hang him; FIRE is a good servant but a bad
master; a GOOD horse cannot be of a bad colour; HARD cases make bad law; HOPE is a good