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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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'best-laid schemes o' mice an' men'
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Phrase from *Burns' poem To a Mouse; on turning her up in her nest, with the plough, November 1785. Burns apologizes to the 'wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie' and expresses fellow feeling because the best-laid schemes of mice and men 'gang aft a-gley' (often go awry).
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