It Will Not Wash: Does It Work, or Not?

"It just will not wash."

"It will not wash?"

"it will not wash" means it will not work.  Eric Partridge wrote that the saying probably developed in Britain in the eighteen hundreds. Charlotte Bronte used it in a story published in eighteen forty-nine. She wrote, "That wiln't wash, miss."  Mizz Bronte seems to have meant that the dyes used to color a piece of clothing were not good. The colors could not be depended on to stay in the material.

"He won't wash."  The critic did not mean that the poet was not a clean person.  He meant that Browning's poems could not be depended on to last.

"talked turkey" to him. She said, "Your idea would be unfair to our buyers. Think of another way to save money."

"Now, I talk turkey to you."

talked turkey to him. He was given an increase in pay. So if your idea "will not wash," try "talking turkey" to yourself and come up with a better idea.