In _Tom Sawyer_, Chapter One, the new boy tells Tom: "You can lump that hat if you don't like it. I dare you to knock it off -- and anybody that'll take a dare will suck eggs." In the case of modern usage of the word (especially on television), I naively hope that the characters are talking about eggs, and I suspect that script writers dance around the censors using that argument even though we all know better. I have heard the expression "Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs," meaning, that you are being presumptuous in teaching an older and more experienced person something that they already know. In this case, sucking eggs refers to the removal of the yolk and albumin from the egg by sucking (or blowing) it out of a small hole in the end of the egg. Twain's use of the phrase "suck eggs" (or more accurately, the new boy's use of the phrase) is meant to be an insult. What I would like to know is this: what makes sucking eggs so derogatory? I believe the expression "Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs" has its origins in Germany. That brings this issue close to the question of translating humor. Was something lost in translation? Just wondering. John Evans