he's too far north for me
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Too canny, too cunning to be taken in; very hard in making a bargain. The inhabitants of Yorkshire are supposed to be very canny, especially in driving a bargain; and when you get to Aberdeen !
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 “he's too far north for me” mean?
Too canny, too cunning to be taken in; very hard in making a bargain. The inhabitants of Yorkshire are supposed to be very canny, especially in driving a bargain; and when you get to Aberdeen !
Is “he's too far north for me” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.