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Preserved but no longer current.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.
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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.
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