Take my cow... please!

May 4, 2011 1:10 PM

Can you help me pin down an old saying from Westerns (or at least from the American Old West) along the lines of "the second cow is free"?

The idea is that if you're a cattle rustler, they're gonna hang you for stealing just one cow, and that's no different than if you steal 100 cows, so... well, you get the idea. I'm just not sure if there's more to it than "the second cow is free" or if I've gotten that wrong altogether.

Thanks, y'all!

posted by argonauta to Writing & Language (4 answers total)

I think I've heard "hang for the fleece, hang for the sheep".
posted by Solomon at 1:28 PM on May 4, 2011

I've seen this idea phrased "Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb."
posted by cgc373 at 1:39 PM on May 4, 2011

Solomon and cgc373 have the two I've heard of, but just in case: "in for a penny, in for a pound", which loses the distinction that there is no difference in risk between the two choices.
posted by d. z. wang at 2:39 PM on May 4, 2011

As cgc373 notes, this is close to what you want: "might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb," which Michael Quinion, who is a trusted authority on such things, traces back to 1678.

According to Google Books' snippet view, which is not completely reliable, this 1997 book, "Northumberland in Watercolour," has this quote in it: "I might as weel be hangit (hanged) for twa coos as yin", so he went back to steal the second cow."
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:03 PM on May 4, 2011