Learn English – What does “You’re as bad as the old Irish woman who took the two pills to be sure, to be sure…” mean

idiomsmeaningphrases

What does "You're as bad as the old Irish woman who took the two pills to be sure, to be sure…" mean? And if you know what it means, can you also specify the origin of this phrase?

To be more specific about the context, I've heard it here: http://youtu.be/BfI9rJ0toWA?t=1m2s

Best Answer

"You're as bad as the old Irish woman who took the two pills to be sure, to be sure..." ?

Reduplication is an alleged trait of [Hiberno-English](to be sure, to be sure...) (Irish-English) strongly associated with stage-Irish and Hollywood films.

The first pill, she took to be sure, and the second, she also took to be sure, so together, she took two pills to be sure, to be sure...

There appears to be no idiom here. It must be from a book or other single source, wherein the meaning of this particular use may be found.

I can make a guess that it means one is as mistrustful as the old Irish woman who didn't trust that one pill would do the job, so she took two, but this is only a guess.