there's many a slip twixt cup and lip

== English == === Etymology === The Dutch humanist Erasmus (c. 1466 – 1536), in his collection of proverbs called Adagia, noted that the Carthaginian grammarian Sulpicius Apollinaris (fl. 2nd century C.E.) recorded two proverbs, one in Greek and the other in Latin, with the same meaning: πολλὰ μεταξὺ πέλει κύλικος καὶ χείλεος ἄκρου (pollà metaxù pélei kúlikos kaì kheíleos ákrou, literally “much takes place between the (wine) cup and the upper lip”) and multa cadunt inter calice[m], supremaq[ue] labra (literally “many things fall between the chalice, and the upper lips”). The earliest English version of the expression recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is Richard Taverner’s 1539 translation of Erasmus’s work: see the quotation. The proverb refers to the possibility of a drink being spilled from a cup while it is being raised to the lips and before it can be drunk. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ðɛəz ˌmɛni‿ə ˈslɪp twɪkst ˌkʌp‿n̩ ˈlɪp/, /ðɛːz-/ (General American) IPA(key): /ðɛəɹz ˌmɛni‿ə ˈslɪp twɪkst ˌkʌp‿n̩ ˈlɪp/, /ðɛɹz-/ Rhymes: -ɪp === Proverb === there's many a slip twixt cup and lip (dated) In any situation, however well planned, something can always go wrong. Synonym: don't count your chickens before they're hatched ==== Alternative forms ==== there's many a slip between the cup and the lip, there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== halloo before one is out of the wood; out of the woods it ain't over till it's over it ain't over till the fat lady sings === References === === Further reading === there’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip on Wikipedia.Wikipedia