All my eye and Betty Martin
Preserved but no longer current.
All nonsense, bosh, rubbish. The origin of this curious phrase cannot now be discovered. The Betty Martin is a later addition; "All my eye" is the old saying, as Goldsmith makes the Bailiff say in the Good-natured Man (iii) : "That's all my eye, the king only can pardon, as the law says." In his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), Grose gives: "That's my eye, Betty Martin.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “All my eye and Betty Martin” mean?
All nonsense, bosh, rubbish. The origin of this curious phrase cannot now be discovered. The Betty Martin is a later addition; "All my eye" is the old saying, as Goldsmith makes the Bailiff say in the Good-natured Man (iii) : "That's all my eye, the king only can pardon, as the law says." In his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), Grose gives: "That's my eye, Betty Martin.
Is “All my eye and Betty Martin” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.