short essay on one good turn deserves another

English Story, Essay on “One good turn deserves another” for Class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Students.

The Slave and The Lion

In the olden day’s men, women, and children were bought and sold like animals. These people were known as slaves. Once there was a slave who was very cruelly treated by his master. He was fed up with his miserable life. He wanted to escape. As soon as he got a chance he quietly left for a forest.

On the way, the slave saw a lion with a swollen paw. The animal was in pain. He was too helpless to attack the man. Instead, he wanted the slave’s help in removing his pain. The slave took pity on him and removed the thorn that had entered his foot. The lion looked at him with grateful eyes.

Time passed and the slave forgot the incident. But a day came when he was arrested and produced before the king. He was charged with escaping from his master. He was found guilty and ordered to be thrown before a hungry lion. The day of punishment arrived, and a large number of spectators assembled to see the cruel show. A hungry lion was let loose on the culprit. But to the amazement of all, the lion did not eat up the slave. The king himself thought that a miracle had happened.

On being asked, the slave related the story of his kindness shown to the lion. Now the mystery became clear.

Moral: Kindness never goes unrewarded.

One good turn deserves another.

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What Does One Good Turn Deserves Another Mean?

Home » Phrase and Idiom Dictionary » What Does One Good Turn Deserves Another Mean?

One Good Turn Deserves Another Meaning

Definition: If you help someone, that person is likely to help you later.

Origin of One Good Turn Deserves Another

This expression dates back to the 1400s. The word turn in this idiom doesn’t mean rotate , as it commonly does nowadays. Rather it means good deed .

Therefore, the idea behind this expression is that if one person does something kind, it is good to repay that kindness with a nice act of one’s own.

This idea of helping one and receiving help later in return is even older than the proverb. There are multiple fables that show a strong animal helping a weaker one, and then the weaker one helping the stronger one later.

One of these is about a lion that frees a mouse, and later the mouse helps the lion escape from a hunter’s net by chewing through the net.

Another similar fable is about an ant and a dove. The dove rescues an ant in danger of drowning, and later the ant warns the dove about a hunter.

Examples of One Good Turn Deserves Another

Jennie: Wow! Did you vacuum the whole house? It looks amazing! Thank you!

Bobby: It’s nothing. I saw that you had rotated the tires for me on my truck, so I just wanted to repay the favor. I figure that one good turn deserves another.

Jennie: Well, I appreciate it!

Bobby: As do I!

Two friends are discussing a favor.

Andrew: I’m sorry to ask you this, but it’s an emergency. Can you give me a ride to the airport?

Aaron: Sure! I’d love to, just as I’m sure you’d love to help me move to my new house next weekend. After all, one good turn deserves another, right?

Andrew: Fine.

More Examples

This excerpt is the headline of an article about how a pet protected its family.

• One good turn deserves another: St. Bernard fends off intruder… hours after family rescues him from shelter – Daily Mail

The second excerpt is from an article about the jerseys for a team.

• “When we were looking at the design of the jersey, a sponsor banner across the front, he wasn’t bothered about his own name,” she said. “One good turn deserves another. We looked at giving a local charity some exposure.” – The Irish News

The phrase one good turn deserves another means people often repay kindness with kindness .  

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The English We Speak

Intermediate level, one good turn deserves another, episode 160517 / 17 may 2016.

Rob has kindly offered Feifei a lift home from the station but as he turns the final corner into her street, he asks for something in return. What's the phrase he uses and has it got anything to do with driving around corners? Listen and find out what it is.

Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, I'm Feifei…

Rob … and hello I'm Rob.

Feifei Rob, thanks for giving me a lift home from the station tonight.

Rob No problem Feifei. Happy to help… and look we're almost home… just turn this corner.

Feifei Great - I would have got very wet walking home in this rain.

Rob That's OK… but I was wondering if you could do something for me now?

Feifei Oh! Rob, did you just give me a lift home so that I would do something for you?

Rob Well… err… you know what they say… 'one good turn deserves another'.

Feifei 'One good turn deserves another'? Are we talking about driving? There's no need to 'turn another corner', we're already at my house.

Rob No Feifei – I mean when someone does something to help you, you should do something helpful in return.

Feifei Oh, is that right! We had better hear some more examples of this phrase…

Examples A: Do you mind doing the washing up? I did do all the cooking and one good turn does deserve another! B: Oh, OK then.

Please can you help me with my homework, I did yours last week and you know what they say: one good turn deserves another!

He helped me fix my car, so I was happy to let him borrow it if he needed to – one good turn deserves another.

Feifei So one good turn deserves another – do someone a favour and they should return the favour. Hmm, I've been thinking Rob, you're right – you did me a kind favour and I should help you – so how can I help?

Rob Well, if you're sure Feifei – I wondered if you could help me paint my house this weekend?

Feifei Help you paint your house?

Rob Not all of it – just the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom.

Feifei That's not fair! Rob, I'm sure one good turn deserves another of equal value – giving me a lift home isn't the same as painting all you house!

Rob Oh, so the answer is 'no' then?

Feifei No! Bye.

Rob Erm… bye. And you can walk next time!

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This phrase isn’t hard!

Episode 190603 / 03 Jun 2019

An unimpressive phrase!

Clever clogs

Episode 190527 / 27 may 2019.

Intelligent footwear!

Couch surfing

Episode 190520 / 20 may 2019.

A phrase for moving around

Like riding a bike

Episode 190513 / 13 may 2019.

An 'easy' phrase

Episode 190506 / 06 May 2019

Why is Neil 'on fire?'

Out of order

Episode 190429 / 29 apr 2019.

What actions are considered out of order in your country?

Episode 190422 / 22 Apr 2019

Learn a new way to say ‘very’ in this week’s The English We Speak!

Give someone the runaround

Episode 190415 / 15 apr 2019.

A phrase to describe being unhelpful

Laughing all the way to the bank

Episode 190408 / 08 apr 2019.

Learn a funny phrase!

The joke is on you

Episode 190401 / 01 apr 2019.

It's no joke!

Keep a lid on it

Episode 190325 / 25 mar 2019.

Keep this phrase a secret!

To pull the wool over someone's eyes

Episode 190318 / 18 mar 2019.

A deceiving phrase

To take the rough with the smooth

Episode 190311 / 11 mar 2019.

A good and bad phrase

Episode 190304 / 04 Mar 2019

A tough phrase

To have a soft spot

Episode 190225 / 25 feb 2019.

A phrase you'll really like

To make a song and dance (about something)

Episode 190218 / 18 feb 2019.

A phrase to sing about

Giant killer

Episode 190211 / 11 feb 2019.

A phrase about big vs small

A shock to the system

Episode 190204 / 04 feb 2019.

Prepare to be shocked!

From pillar to post

Episode 190128 / 28 jan 2019.

A moving phrase!

Episode 190121 / 21 Jan 2019

Informal chat

A bright spark

Episode 190114 / 14 jan 2019.

Is this a clever phrase?

To be all downhill

Episode 190107 / 07 jan 2019.

An easier phrase

Episode 181231 / 31 Dec 2018

A phrase to shout about

To have all your Christmases come at once

Episode 181224 / 24 dec 2018.

Get that festive feeling again and again

It's the thought that counts

Episode 181217 / 17 dec 2018.

A phrase for bad presents

Digital detox: What's the meaning?

Episode 181210 / 10 dec 2018.

A detox of a different kind

'It leaves a bad taste in your mouth': What does it mean?

Episode 181203 / 03 dec 2018.

Great food but a bad taste

Episode 181126 / 26 Nov 2018

Is it a meal or a type of weather?

Throw in the towel

Episode 181119 / 19 nov 2018.

Time to give up

A walk in the park

Episode 181112 / 12 nov 2018.

An easy expression

Episode 181105 / 05 Nov 2018

A less intelligent phone

Episode 181029 / 29 Oct 2018

Who's scared?

Something to chew on

Episode 181022 / 22 oct 2018.

An indecisive phrase

Episode 181015 / 15 Oct 2018

Believe it or not, not all waffles are good!

Episode 181008 / 08 Sep 2018

When things aren't quite straight

To play a blinder

Episode 181001 / 01 oct 2018.

Doing something amazing

Episode 180924 / 24 Sep 2018

Has someone annoyed you?

Episode 180917 / 17 Sep 2018

What’s worse than bragging?

Out of your depth

Episode 180910 / 10 sep 2018.

A deep phrase

Episode 180903 / 03 Sep 2018

A moody expression

Curry favour

Episode 180827 / 27 aug 2018.

A spicy expression

Take the biscuit

Episode 180820 / 20 aug 2018.

A sweet phrase

Episode 180813 / 13 Aug 2018

Episode 180806 / 06 Aug 2018

Press 'send'

Crunch time

Episode 180730 / 30 jul 2018.

No biscuits required

Episode 180723 / 23 Jul 2018

A trying expression!

A necessary evil

Episode 180716 / 16 jul 2018.

Unavoidable situations

If the cap fits

Episode 180709 / 09 jul 2018.

A truthful phrase

Episode 180702 / 02 Jul 2018

To have a good nose (for something)

Episode 180625 / 25 jun 2018.

No smelling needed!

Friends in high places

Episode 180618 / 18 jun 2018.

A phrase about knowing important people

Episode 180611 / 11 Jun 2018

A no-win situation

Let the dust settle

Episode 180604 / 04 jun 2018.

Dust off an old English phrase

Nothing to shout about

Episode 180528 / 28 may 2018.

A quiet phrase

Let sleeping dogs lie

Episode 180521 / 21 may 2018.

A trouble-free phrase

Bleed someone dry

Episode 180514 / 14 may 2018.

Blood money

Small change

Episode 180507 / 07 may 2018.

A trivial phrase

That'll teach you!

Episode 180430 / 30 apr 2018.

Serves you right!

An old hand

Episode 180423 / 23 apr 2018.

Some who's skilled and experienced

Out of the loop

Episode 180416 / 16 apr 2018.

Are you missing out?

Episode 180409 / 09 Apr 2018

Reminding someone about something they'd rather forget

Episode 180402 / 02 Apr 2018

Are you a smartphone zombie?

Episode 180326 / 26 Mar 2018

Barking up the wrong tree

Episode 180319 / 08 mar 2018.

Don't blame me!

Cloud cuckoo land

Episode 180312 / 12 mar 2018.

A ridiculous phrase!

A taste of your own medicine

Episode 180305 / 05 mar 2018.

Payback time!

Happy-go-lucky

Episode 180226 / 26 feb 2018.

A worry-free phrase

Episode 180219 / 19 Feb 2018

Young and clever

The best of both worlds

Episode 180212 / 12 feb 2018.

Two good things

Episode 180205 / 05 Feb 2018

A lazy phrase

To cut a long story short

Episode 180129 / 29 jan 2018.

Just give me the details

Just the ticket

Episode 180122 / 22 jan 2018.

Just what I wanted!

Episode 180115 / 15 Jan 2018

A phrase about jealousy

Do a runner

Episode 180108 / 08 jan 2018.

Time to get out of here!

Episode 180101 / 01 Jan 2018

Time to lose that beard…

All that jazz

Episode 171225 / 25 dec 2017.

When jazz isn't jazz…

Not gonna lie

Episode 171218 / 18 dec 2017.

Not gonna lie: this is a great programme!

Up your game

Episode 171211 / 11 dec 2017.

Up your emoji game

To shout it from the rooftops

Episode 171204 / 04 dec 2017.

Shout it out

To blow the cobwebs away

Episode 171127 / 27 nov 2017.

An energetic phrase

Episode 171120 / 20 Nov 2017

Party time!

To put someone on the map

Episode 171113 / 13 nov 2017.

Fame at last!

Down in the dumps

Episode 171106 / 06 nov 2017.

Is this a rubbish phrase?

Episode 171030 / 30 Oct 2017

A polite phrase – most of the time

A sting in the tail

Episode 171023 / 23 oct 2017.

Learn a phrase with a painful ending

So done with

Episode 171016 / 16 oct 2017.

Feeling bored of your work?

Episode 171009 / 09 Oct 2017

Fancy a laugh?

Episode 171002 / 02 Oct 2017

Why is Neil being criticised?

Episode 170925 / 25 Sep 2017

Familiar word, new meaning!

Episode 170918 / 18 Sep 2017

Learn an informal expression for when you have to improvise

Episode 170911 / 11 Sep 2017

Take a chance!

It beats me

Episode 170904 / 04 sep 2017.

What's going on?!

Jiggery-pokery

Episode 170829 / 29 aug 2017.

Don't be tricked by this phrase!

Left, right, and centre

Episode 170822 / 22 aug 2017.

Doing something everywhere

Donkey's years

Episode 170815 / 15 aug 2017.

Years and ears!

Give us a bell

Episode 170808 / 08 aug 2017.

Someone's ringing!

Echo chamber

Episode 170801 / 01 aug 2017.

Echo echo echo echo…

Episode 170725 / 25 Jul 2017

Do you melt too easily?

The heat is on

Episode 170718 / 18 jul 2017.

Too much pressure!

Wet weekend

Episode 170711 / 11 jul 2017.

It's wet and there's no rain!

Episode 170704 / 04 Jul 2017

Learn a phrase that involves effort

A busman's holiday

Episode 170627 / 27 jun 2017.

Learn a phrase about a working holiday

Fuddy-duddy

Episode 170620 / 20 jun 2017.

No great shakes

Episode 170613 / 13 jun 2017.

Not impressed!

Not a sausage

Episode 170606 / 06 jun 2017.

Learn a phrase that means ‘nothing’

Episode 170530 / 30 May 2017

Love ironing? Or is it ‘long’?

Episode 170523 / 23 May 2017

Learn a phrase which isn’t half useful

All over the shop

Episode 170516 / 16 may 2017.

The phrase about shops that isn’t about shops

It comes with the territory

Episode 170509 / 09 may 2017.

Accept the situation!

It won't wash

Episode 170502 / 02 may 2017.

A dirty phrase

Jack-of-all-trades

Episode 170425 / 25 apr 2017.

A multi-skilled phrase!

The coast is clear

Episode 170418 / 18 apr 2017.

Nobody's watching!

Pull a fast one

Episode 170411 / 11 apr 2017.

Don’t be cheated – learn this phrase!

Suck it and see

Episode 170404 / 04 apr 2017.

You won’t know until you try

To cut your teeth

Episode 170328 / 28 mar 2017.

Gaining new experience

Shrinkflation

Episode 170321 / 21 mar 2017.

Getting less for your money

Episode 170314 / 14 Mar 2017

It's not Los Angeles!

A different kettle of fish

Episode 170307 / 07 mar 2017.

Fishing for a phrase? This could be the one for you

At the drop of a hat

Episode 170228 / 28 feb 2017.

Acting on impulse!

Episode 170221 / 21 Feb 2017

An expression about saying what you think

Reinvent the wheel

Episode 170214 / 14 feb 2017.

Doing it all over again

Episode 170207 / 07 Feb 2017

False friends

Episode 170131 / 31 Jan 2017

Give both sides of the argument with this phrase

Episode 170124 / 24 Jan 2017

Watching a ‘box’ can’t be very enjoyable, can it?

Episode 170117 / 17 Jan 2017

When being called ‘duck’ is a good thing

Episode 170110 / 10 Jan 2017

Don’t lose your bottle!

Got your number

Episode 170103 / 03 jan 2017.

Understanding someone's true intentions

A slap in the face

Episode 161227 / 27 dec 2016.

Words not actions

Episode 161220 / 20 Dec 2016

Click here for nonsense. Learn some cyber vocabulary

Episode 161213 / 13 Dec 2016

If you mix A and B, do you get C?

Episode 161206 / 06 Dec 2016

When is a kiss not a kiss?

Mansplaining

Episode 161129 / 29 nov 2016.

Has a man ever over-explained something to you?

Rolling in it

Episode 161122 / 22 nov 2016.

How much money do you need to roll around in it?

Episode 161115 / 15 Nov 2016

Someone's in my photo!

Cyberchondriac

Episode 161108 / 08 nov 2016.

Is the internet making you ill?

To wash your dirty linen in public

Episode 161101 / 01 nov 2016.

An expression about not keeping matters private

Cat got your tongue?

Episode 161025 / 25 oct 2016.

A phrase about not saying much

It takes two to tango

Episode 161018 / 18 oct 2016.

How many people dance the tango?

Knee-jerk reaction

Episode 161011 / 11 oct 2016.

An expression connected to the knee

To have an axe to grind

Episode 161004 / 04 oct 2016.

An expression for when someone's got a strong opinion

Close, but no cigar

Episode 160927 / 27 sep 2016.

A phrase about almost succeeding

Get somebody's goat

Episode 160920 / 16 sep 2016.

A phrase about something annoying

Episode 160913 / 13 Sep 2016

An expression that means 'to make a great effort'

Episode 160906 / 06 Sep 2016

A phrase that describes old things

Episode 160830 / 30 Aug 2016

A way to say 'lots'

Episode 160823 / 23 Aug 2016

A phrase for people who get angry when they don't eat

To pull something out of the hat

Episode 160816 / 16 aug 2016.

What surprising things come out of a hat?

In the blink of an eye

Episode 160809 / 09 aug 2016.

An expression to show speed

Off the hook

Episode 160802 / 02 aug 2016.

Here's a phrase for when you free someone from an obligation

Episode 160726 / 26 Jul 2016

A phrase about being bold and shameless

To make a mountain out of a molehill

Episode 160719 / 19 jul 2016.

Don't overreact - use this phrase!

The last/final straw

Episode 160712 / 12 jul 2016.

Something tiny could cause a lot of problems

The university of life

Episode 160705 / 05 jul 2016.

Where's the best place to learn about life?

White-collar worker / blue-collar worker

Episode 160628 / 28 jun 2016.

What does the colour of your clothes say about your job?

Drama queen

Episode 160621 / 21 jun 2016.

Here's a phrase to describe someone who overreacts easily

It's on the cards

Episode 160614 / 14 jun 2016.

Learn a different way of saying that something is likely to happen

Until you're blue in the face

Episode 160607 / 07 jun 2016.

Can you face this phrase?

Clean up your act

Episode 160531 / 31 may 2016.

Someone behaving badly? Here's a phrase that tells them what to do

You're pulling my leg!

Episode 160524 / 24 may 2016.

Want to trick someone? Here is a phrase that involves pulling a part of your body!

Has someone helped you with something? If so, here's a phrase that tells you what to do next

To fall at the first hurdle

Episode 160510 / 10 may 2016.

Got an idea that's never going to work? Here is a phrase to describe the situation

Pain in the neck

Episode 160503 / 03 may 2016.

Learn the phrase Helen needs to describe the headache her mobile phone company is causing her

Burn a hole in your pocket

Episode 160426 / 26 apr 2016.

Learn a vivid expression to describe someone who cannot save any money

To turn something upside down

Episode 160419 / 19 apr 2016.

Learn a phrase about doing a thorough search

Going forward

Episode 160412 / 12 apr 2016.

Office speak for 'in the future'

A recipe for disaster

Episode 160405 / 05 apr 2016.

A phrase that means you're heading for disaster

Crash course

Episode 160329 / 29 mar 2016.

A really fast way to learn something!

You've sold it to me

Episode 160322 / 22 mar 2016.

Learn a different way to express 'you've convinced me'

Full of the joys of spring

Episode 160315 / 15 mar 2016.

A seasonal idiom that puts you in a good mood

A leopard can't change its spots

Episode 160308 / 08 mar 2016.

Learn a phrase about keeping your bad habits

Six of one, half a dozen of the other

Episode 160301 / 01 mar 2016.

This expression may not have anything to do with numbers

Test the water

Episode 160223 / 23 feb 2016.

A water phrase which may have nothing to do with water

To lie through your teeth

Episode 160216 / 16 feb 2016.

Telling lies? Here's an honest phrase to use

To make a monkey out of me

Episode 160209 / 09 feb 2016.

Looking stupid? This is a phrase for you!

Episode 160202 / 02 Feb 2016

Learn a phrase to describe tricky situations

There's method to my madness

Episode 160126 / 26 jan 2016.

A phrase to describe your seemingly strange behaviour

In good nick

Episode 160119 / 19 jan 2016.

Learn a phrase to describe something in top condition

Cheap and cheerful

Episode 160112 / 12 jan 2016.

A phrase to describe an inexpensive but fun product

A bitter pill to swallow

Episode 160105 / 05 jan 2016.

Learn a phrase to describe a situation that is hard to accept

Episode 151229 / 29 Dec 2015

Learn a phrase to describe someone going mad

Episode 151222 / 22 Dec 2015

Neil is dying for a game of squash but Li is not game

That'll put hairs on your chest!

Episode 151215 / 15 dec 2015.

An expression said when someone is about to have a strong alcoholic drink

Fancy someone

Episode 151208 / 08 dec 2015.

They seem to be getting on well... maybe they 'fancy' each other?

Down the pan

Episode 151201 / 01 dec 2015.

Learn a phrase to describe a disastrous situation

Part of the furniture

Episode 151124 / 24 nov 2015.

Learn a new idiom about being around a long time

Sweet tooth

Episode 151117 / 17 nov 2015.

Do you have a sweet tooth? Is it something that you are born with or do you develop it?

Bumper-to-bumper

Episode 151110 / 10 nov 2015.

It looks pretty bad on the road

Episode 151103 / 03 Nov 2015

Going out with a good-looking but uninteresting person?

Episode 151027 / 27 Oct 2015

An expression for when you forget English words

Across the pond

Episode 151020 / 20 oct 2015.

Learn an expression which makes an ocean sound very small indeed

People person

Episode 151013 / 13 oct 2015.

An expression for those who get along with people

It's a steal!

Episode 151006 / 06 oct 2015.

An expression for when you get a bargain

Bull and bear market

Episode 150929 / 29 sep 2015.

Learn what we say when share prices go up and when they go down

Social media words

Episode 150922 / 22 sep 2015.

'Trolls' and 'haters' – the words for people who are just there to annoy you online

Don't give up the day job

Episode 150915 / 15 sep 2015.

Learn a phrase to give someone some friendly advice

A barrel of laughs

Episode 150908 / 08 sep 2015.

How to describe someone who is fun

To know something like the back of your hand

Episode 150901 / 01 sep 2015.

A popular expression for letting people know you are an expert

A face for radio

Episode 150825 / 25 aug 2015.

A useful expression for indirectly saying that someone is ugly

Give me credit

Episode 150818 / 18 aug 2015.

Learn a phrase that's full of praise. You won't need a credit card to use this one

To keep the wolf from the door

Episode 150811 / 11 aug 2015.

Who's that knocking at the door? Someone's here to tell you you're in financial trouble

Episode 150804 / 04 Aug 2015

Hot-desking is a modern way of working in offices. Learn how to use this phrase as a noun and a verb

Out of juice

Episode 150728 / 28 jul 2015.

Oh no - your phone's out of battery. We have just the phrase you need!

The penny dropped

Episode 150721 / 21 jul 2015.

What do you say when you finally understand something? Learn a useful phrase to do just that in this programme

Episode 150714 / 14 Jul 2015

An expression for when there are lots of rules and regulations

Words for underwear

Episode 150707 / 07 jul 2015.

What do you call your panties, socks and bra? Listen to the programme to find out...

To drink someone under the table

Episode 150630 / 30 jun 2015.

Drink to celebrate the good things in life, drink to forget the bad. Here's an expression for people who like a drink

Episode 150623 / 23 Jun 2015

Both work and home are demanding lots of your time but what you really want is a few hours to yourself. Here's an expression to help you deal with that.

Cyberbullying

Episode 150616 / 16 jun 2015.

Is there someone tormenting you online? Here's an expression for when people hide behind a computer to attack others.

Take a back seat

Episode 150609 / 09 jun 2015.

Learn a phrase about not taking control. You won't need a car for this driving-related idiom!

In black and white

Episode 150602 / 02 jun 2015.

What two colours do we use to describe something that's official? Learn a phrase that leaves you in no doubt!

A sticky situation

Episode 150526 / 26 may 2015.

What kind of situation has Rob got into when he bumps into a woman on the way to work?

A close shave

Episode 150519 / 19 may 2015.

What's a razor got to do with Rob's bike ride to work? Here's an expression for when you've had a narrow escape

My mind's gone blank

Episode 150512 / 12 may 2015.

Why did Rob ask Feifei to meet him in the studio? Here's an expression for when you've forgotten something

To sleep on it

Episode 150505 / 05 may 2015.

How can sleeping help you make a decision? Learn a phrase that doesn't involve lying on a bed!

All over the place

Episode 150428 / 28 apr 2015.

What's wrong with Neil today? Here's an expression for when you're badly organised

To go around the houses

Episode 150421 / 21 apr 2015.

Where do you go if you waste time asking pointless questions? We explain a useful phrase

Done and dusted

Episode 150414 / 14 apr 2015.

When someone says the phrase done and dusted, do they mean doing some proper cleaning?

Episode 150407 / 07 Apr 2015

It's hard to swallow but maybe it's time for a chill pill! We explain what that is

Put a sock in it!

Episode 150331 / 31 mar 2015.

Why has Helen put a sock in the toaster and how is that going to keep her quiet?

A wild card

Episode 150324 / 24 mar 2015.

Who's the wild card in the office? Rob and Feifei use a phrase to describe an unpredictable colleague

To take a shot / stab in the dark

Episode 150317 / 17 mar 2015.

Feifei thinks someone's been killed but then discovers taking a stab in the dark doesn't involve using knives!

To keep a lid on it

Episode 150310 / 10 mar 2015.

Li and Neil get free coffee at a cafe but they need to keep a lid on it

To be on the ball

Episode 150303 / 03 mar 2015.

Learn a phrase to describe the ability to quickly react to things

Mind-blowing

Episode 150224 / 24 feb 2015.

Feifei and Harry use an expression to describe things that amaze and astound

Out for the count

Episode 150217 / 17 feb 2015.

Neil and Li talk about how a boxing expression can be used in everyday life

Game changer

Episode 150210 / 10 feb 2015.

Feifei and Harry use an expression for people and ideas that change the way we do things

Episode 150203 / 03 Feb 2015

Harry and Feifei look at an expression for when things surprise and impress you

Episode 150127 / 27 Jan 2015

Harry and Feifei talk about a common colloquial expression for when things are intense

Stab in the back

Episode 150120 / 20 jan 2015.

Harry and Feifei talk about an expression that is not as violent as it sounds

To downsize

Episode 150113 / 13 jan 2015.

Neil and Feifei talk about a word made popular by the economic downturn

At the movies

Episode 150106 / 06 jan 2015.

Sci-fi, romcom, whodunnit – What kind of movies do you like?

Killing time

Episode 141230 / 30 dec 2014.

Neil tells Helen to kill time but she smashes up a clock. Find out why and learn a useful expression.

Like turkeys voting for Christmas

Episode 141223 / 23 dec 2014.

Do you celebrate Christmas? Do you like eating turkey? Do you think turkeys like Christmas? Learn this humorous idiom

Face the music

Episode 141216 / 16 dec 2014.

There's something Neil's forgotten to do and now he has to face the music. Listen to the programme to find out why.

Internet speak

Episode 141209 / 09 dec 2014.

'Snail mail', 'post' and 'hard copy' – learn expressions connected with computers

Episode 141202 / 02 Dec 2014

Li's cat video has gone viral. Will she be happy about it? Learn an expression from the internet age

Give the cold shoulder

Episode 141125 / 25 nov 2014.

Is Feifei's designer shawl a solution to her problems with Lisa? Listen to the programme to find out

Episode 141118 / 18 Nov 2014

Rob is deleting some emails. He won’t take the bait sent in by criminals!

Take to the cleaners

Episode 141111 / 11 nov 2014.

Rob's very expensive shirt is ruined! Who will pay for it? Listen to the programme to find out

Eat humble pie

Episode 141104 / 04 nov 2014.

Is Rob hungry enough to win a pie-eating competition? Listen to the programme

Like water off a duck's back

Episode 141028 / 28 oct 2014.

Feifei has a thing or two to learn from the ducks in the park. So do you. Listen to the programme

Take for a ride

Episode 141021 / 21 oct 2014.

Cars that run on air? Sounds too good to be true. But Li thinks they're the future and wants to invest in a company that makes them. Will she lose her money?

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater

Episode 141014 / 14 oct 2014.

Is Feifei giving up her job to take care of babies? Learn an amusing idiom

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Phrase Finder

• One good turn deserves another

What's the meaning of the phrase 'One good turn deserves another'?

‘One good turn deserves another’ is a proverbial expression that means, when someone does you a good turn, a good turn done in return is appropriate.

What's the origin of the phrase 'One good turn deserves another'?

The proverbial expression ‘one good turn deserves another’ has been in the language since at least 1636, as here in William Camden’s Remaines concerning Britaine :

“One good turne asketh another.”

‘One good turn deserves another’ is in use in colloquial English but is also a legal concept in the area of trade or exchange of goods or services. A contract is said to be binding if it is ‘One good turn deserves another’, that is, if it involves an exchange of goods or services for something of comparable value, usually money.

The proverb is often used to describe corrupt practise, where favours (notably political or sexual favours) are illicitly given in exchange for cash. that is, ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’.

A little wordplay involving the synonyms ‘turn’ and ‘tern’ was used by the scriptwriters of the 1991 thriller movie ‘ The Silence of the Lambs ‘, starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins as Clarice Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter:

Hannibal Lecter: Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center. Sounds charming. Clarice Starling: That’s only part of the island. There’s a very, very nice beach. Terns nest there. There’s beautiful… Hannibal Lecter: Terns? If I help you, Clarice, it will be “turns” for us too. I tell you things, you tell me things. Not about this case, though. About yourself. One good turn deserves another. Yes or no?

Related phrases and meanings

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• One foot in the grave
• One for the road
• One hand washes the other
• One man’s meat is another man’s poison

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Abraham Lincoln's Classroom

The Lehrman Institute Presents:

One Good Turn Deserves Another

Title: One Good Turn Deserves Another

Creator: John Tenniel, Punch

Description: President Lincoln is shown trying to entice a black American to join the army in return for emancipation.

He says: “Why I du declare it’s my dear old friend Sambo! Course you’ll fight for us, Sambo. Lend us a hand, old hoss, du!”

• Elementary School
• Reading & Speaking
• External Independent Testing
• Grammar Exercises

One Good Turn Deserves Another

Retell the story “One Good Turn Deserves Another”.

Share this story, choose your platform, related posts.

Personality

Voluntary Work

Attitude to Clothes

Clothes I Wear

Influence of Celebrities

Interests of Young People

Civil Rights Movement of African Americans

Dmytro Komarov

Three Hairs of A Lion

Comment…nice story

It would be interesting to look at Mr. Green’s reaction to this situation. I think he would never forget this story. By the way, maybe the police officer had a very good memory and didn’t forget his address, but let’s hope that he didn’t. Taking everything into account, it is a very good story with a very good moral.

This story has really helped me.It depicts clearly the meaning of the saying one good turn deserves another.

thx for this story i also helped me in my assignment / h/w

It’s a really good and educating story, it helped me in my assignment.

What A Life

It Is A Good And Interesting Story

A very interesting story

It is a wonderful story that has morals

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one good turn deserves another

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Why do we say "One good turn deserves another (or quid pro quo)"?

Well-known expressions, one good turn deserves another (or quid pro quo).

A favor should be returned in kind, e.g. "you helped me with my homework last week, so I'll help you with yours this time". The maxim traces back to at least 1400.

Background:

In Latin, the concept is expressed as quid pro quo (meaning "this for that"). Quid pro quo is used both in colloquial English and as a legal concept in the area of trade. For example, a contract is said to be binding if it is quid pro quo, which is to say that it involves an exchange of goods or services for something of comparable value - whether that be money or other goods/services.

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one good turn deserves another

Definition of one good turn deserves another

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“One good turn deserves another.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one%20good%20turn%20deserves%20another. Accessed 10 May. 2024.

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ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER in a Sentence Examples: 21 Ways to Use One Good Turn Deserves Another

Have you ever heard the saying “One good turn deserves another”? This popular idiom expresses the concept that when someone does a kind or helpful act, it is only fair that the favor is returned in some way.

Essentially, the phrase encourages reciprocity and the idea that positive actions should be acknowledged and reciprocated. It promotes a sense of fairness and gratitude in interpersonal relationships.

Table of Contents

7 Examples Of One Good Turn Deserves Another Used In a Sentence For Kids

• Help your friend tie their shoes because One good turn deserves another .
• Share your snacks with your classmates because One good turn deserves another .
• Give a big smile to someone feeling sad because One good turn deserves another .
• Offer to play with someone who is alone at recess because One good turn deserves another .
• Help clean up the classroom after a fun activity because One good turn deserves another .
• Say kind words to someone who is feeling down because One good turn deserves another .
• Give a high-five to a friend who helps you out because One good turn deserves another .

14 Sentences with One Good Turn Deserves Another Examples

• When a classmate shared their notes with me before the exam, One good turn deserves another and I helped them with a difficult assignment.
• After borrowing a textbook from a friend, I returned it in perfect condition because I believe that One good turn deserves another .
• I volunteered to help a friend with their project presentation, knowing that One good turn deserves another and they would do the same for me.
• When a friend covered for me during a lecture, One good turn deserves another and I made sure to return the favor when they needed it.
• After lending a calculator to a classmate for an exam, I was happy to see them return it promptly because I believe that One good turn deserves another .
• I offered to tutor a friend in a difficult subject because I believe that One good turn deserves another and they will help me with a different topic.
• When a classmate shared their study materials with me, One good turn deserves another and I shared useful online resources with them.
• I let a friend borrow my laptop for an important presentation because I know that One good turn deserves another and they would do the same for me.
• After a roommate helped me organize my study materials, One good turn deserves another and I helped them clean our dorm room.
• I offered to proofread a friend’s essay before submission because I know that One good turn deserves another and they will help me with my writing.
• When a classmate saved me a seat in a crowded lecture hall, One good turn deserves another and I shared my class notes with them.
• I shared my research materials with a fellow student because I believe that One good turn deserves another and they will share their findings with me.
• After a friend shared their class notes with me, One good turn deserves another and I invited them to join my study group for the upcoming exam.
• I offered to help a classmate with a group project because I believe that One good turn deserves another and they will assist me with future assignments.

How To Use One Good Turn Deserves Another in Sentences?

To use One Good Turn Deserves Another in a sentence, first identify a situation where someone has done a favor for you. Next, you can express your appreciation and willingness to help them in return by saying, “I truly believe in the concept that One Good Turn Deserves Another , so please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

Alternatively, you can use the phrase to encourage others to reciprocate acts of kindness. For example, you might say, “Remember, One Good Turn Deserves Another , so let’s all make an effort to help each other out whenever we can.”

It’s important to understand that this phrase emphasizes the principle of reciprocal kindness and mutual assistance. By using One Good Turn Deserves Another in your sentence, you are conveying the idea that when someone helps you, it is only fair to repay that kindness by helping them in return. This fosters a sense of community, cooperation, and gratitude among individuals.

Overall, incorporating One Good Turn Deserves Another in a sentence is a simple yet powerful way to acknowledge the importance of giving and receiving help. It serves as a reminder to show appreciation for the acts of kindness you receive and to pay it forward by offering assistance to others in need.

In conclusion, the phrase “one good turn deserves another” encapsulates the idea of reciprocity and kindness. It emphasizes the importance of doing good deeds without expecting immediate returns, trusting that goodwill will come back to you when needed. This principle highlights the significance of positive actions and their potential to create a cycle of kindness and mutual support in relationships and communities.

Ultimately, embodying the spirit of “one good turn deserves another” can foster a culture of generosity, empathy, and cooperation. By practicing kindness and helping others selflessly, one can contribute to building a more compassionate and connected society where individuals support each other in times of need, ultimately leading to a more harmonious and thriving community for all.

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English Short Story and English Moral Story ”One Good Turn Deserves Another” Complete Story for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 and other classes.

One Good Turn Deserves Another

Once a swarm of bees had put up their hive in a tree that stood on the bank of a river. They remained busy collecting honey all the day. One day a bee felt thirsty and went to the river. As it tried to drink water, the water carried it away. So, it was about to drown.

Fortunately, a dove was sitting on the branch of a tree.

She saw the bee in trouble and immediately went for it’s rescue. She plucked a broad leaf from the tree, flew to the bee and dropped the leaf near it. The bee mounted the leaf, dried it’s wings and flew away to safety.

After few days, the dove was caught in a big danger. She was sitting on the branch of a tree when an archer aimed at it. She thought of flying away but a hawk was hovering above her head. She could see her death nearby.

Luckily, the bee came there. Seeing the dove in danger, it stung him. The arrow went off but missed it’s aim and hit the hawk instead and killed it. Thus, the dove was saved from death.

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One good turn deserves another

This page is about the saying "One good turn deserves another"

Possible meaning: If someone helps you, they merit being helped in return.

You might say "one good turn deserves another" to

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Contributor: Josef Essberger

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Meaning of one good turn deserves another in English

One good turn deserves another.

• give and take
• it takes two to tango idiom
• non-reciprocal
• one another phrase
• reciprocally
• reciprocate
• reciprocation
• reciprocity
• you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours idiom

Examples of one good turn deserves another

Translations of one good turn deserves another.

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A SHORT STORY TITLE: ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER

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This article is a critical analysis of proverbs that are identified in the siSwati short story ‘Phumani Nelikhambi’, contributed by Thembekile Msibi to Khulumani Sive by Zodwa Motsa (2004). The concepts of ‘short story’ and ‘proverb’ will be defined as part of the introductory section of this discourse. Thereafter, a summary of the short story will be provided, to lay a good foundation. Then, the dominant proverbs in the story shall be identified and listed before the actual analysis. While the various domains of the proverbs will be alluded to in the discussion, the proverbs will not be categorised into these. Each proverb will be critically analysed by focusing on its origin, structure, literal and figurative meanings in general, and its meaning in the context of the story. The latter will also comprise of the effectiveness of the proverbs in the narrative, the author’s intentions and some cultural aspects which are highlighted.

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ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER

Once a swarm of bees had put up their hive in a tree that stood on the bank of a river. they remained busy collecting honey all the day. one day a bee felt thirsty and went to the river. as it tried to drink water, the water carried it away. so, it was about to drown. fortunately, a dove was sitting on the branch of a tree. she saw the bee in trouble and immediately went for it's rescue. she plucked a broad leaf from the tree, flew to the bee and dropped the leaf near it. the bee mounted the leaf, dried it's wings and flew away to safety. after few days, the dove was caught in a big danger. she was sitting on the branch of a tree when an archer aimed at it. she thought of flying away but a hawk was hovering above her head. she could see her death nearby. luckily, the bee came there. seeing the dove in danger, it stung him. the arrow went off but missed it's aim and hit the hawk instead and killed it. thus, the dove was saved from death. the end...

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one good turn deserves another

• 1.1.1 Derived terms
• 1.1.2 Translations
• 1.2 References

English [ edit ]

Proverb [ edit ].

• One act of kindness should be paid back by another act of kindness. Antonym: one bad turn deserves another

Derived terms [ edit ]

Translations [ edit ], references [ edit ].

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings , 1996, →ISBN , p. 262.

• English lemmas
• English proverbs
• English multiword terms
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The Great Read Critic’s Notebook

Cass Elliot’s Death Spawned a Horrible Myth. She Deserves Better.

The Mamas & the Papas singer was known for her wit, her voice and her skill as a connector. For 50 years, a rumor has overshadowed her legacy.

Credit... Michael Putland/Getty Images

Supported by

By Lindsay Zoladz

• May 9, 2024

Onstage with her group the Mamas & the Papas at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967, Cass Elliot, the grand doyenne of the Laurel Canyon scene, bantered with the timing of a vaudeville comedian. “Somebody asked me today when I was going to have the baby, that’s funny ,” she said , rolling her eyes. The unspoken punchline — if you could call it that — was that she had already given birth to a daughter six weeks earlier.

“One of the things that appeals to so many people about my mom is that there’s a certain level of triumph over adversity,” that daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell, said over lunch at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles on a recent afternoon. “She had to prove herself over and over again.”

Elliot was a charismatic performer who exuded infectious joy and a magnificent vocalist with acting chops she did not live to fully explore. July 29 is the 50th anniversary of her untimely death at 32, a tragedy that still spurs unanswerable questions. Might Elliot, who was one of Johnny Carson’s most beloved substitutes, have become the first female late-night talk show host? Would she have achieved EGOT status?

Half a century after her death, her underdog appeal continues to inspire. Last year, “Make Your Own Kind of Music” — a relatively minor 1969 solo hit that has nonetheless had cultural staying power — became such a sensation on TikTok that “Saturday Night Live” spoofed it, in a hilariously over-the-top sketch in which the host Emma Stone plays a strangely clairvoyant record producer. “This song is gonna be everywhere, Mama,” she tells Elliot, played by Chloe Troast. “Then everybody’s gonna forget about it for a long, long time, but in about 40, 50 years, I think it’s gonna start showing up in a bunch of movies, because it’s a perfect song to go under a slow-mo montage where the main character snaps and goes on a rampage.”

“S.N.L.” didn’t make a single joke about Elliot’s weight — something that was unthinkable half a century ago. During the height of her fame, Elliot seemed to co-sign some of the jabs at her expense with a shrugging grin.

“No one’s getting fat except Mama Cass,” the Mamas & the Papas sang in tight harmony on the self-mythologizing 1967 hit “Creeque Alley.” After the infamously tumultuous group broke up a year later, Elliot was a frequent guest on “The Carol Burnett Show,” where she occasionally went for the cheap laugh. In an otherwise uproarious sketch about two prudish women browsing a store’s “dirty books” section, Elliot holds up a book titled “Eat and Lose Weight” and says, “I got as far as ‘Eat’ and then I didn’t understand the rest.”

“As she had learned early on, the best way to deal with an uncomfortable situation is with humor,” Elliot-Kugell, who has her mother’s cascading hair and dry wit, writes in her new memoir, “My Mama, Cass.” But, as she said over lunch, that doesn’t mean her mother was always laughing on the inside. “That pain had to go somewhere,” Elliot-Kugell told me. “When I think about some of the things that had allegedly been said to her during her lifetime, you can’t hear that over and over and not let it hurt.”

But of course, the most enduring joke at her expense was the one she didn’t live to tell, or to rebut. Have you heard the one about the ham sandwich?

For years, the origin of the story that Elliot died from choking on a ham sandwich — one of the cruelest and most persistent myths in rock ’n’ roll history — was largely unknown. Then in 2020, Elliot’s friend Sue Cameron, an entertainment journalist, admitted to publicizing it in her Hollywood Reporter obituary at the behest of Elliot’s manager Allan Carr, who did not want his client associated with drug use. (Elliot died of a heart attack, likely brought on by years of substance abuse and crash dieting.) But that cartoonish rumor — propagated in endless pop culture references, from “Austin Powers” to “Lost” — cast a tawdry light over Elliot’s legacy and still threatens to overshadow her mighty, underappreciated talent.

ELLIOT’S SISTER, LEAH , coined a phrase for the strong, brassy way everyone in their family sang: “the Cohen Honk.”

Cass was born Ellen Naomi Cohen into a music-loving household in suburban Baltimore. Her stage name partly came from her father’s penchant for calling his spirited daughter “the mad Cassandra.” She was a precocious, uncommonly bright child who, in the years after World War II, liked to ask dinner guests what they thought about the “world situation.” In high school she was known for her bold, slightly unkempt personal style that flew in the face of 1950s decorum. According to her biographer Eddi Fiegel, Elliot sometimes wore “wild combinations of Bermuda shorts and high heels, with white gloves to cover her bitten-down nails.”

Many people in Elliot’s life trace her struggles with her weight to when she was 6 and went to stay with her grandparents while recovering from ringworm. They fed her well, as grandparents sometimes do, and she quickly became self-conscious about her size. By high school, she had been prescribed Dexedrine, an amphetamine then used as an appetite suppressant. “The thought that something is wrong with you is bad enough,” Elliot-Kugell writes, “but the idea that a pill or a drug might fix you can be even more dangerous.”

Still, Elliot showed remarkable self-belief. The book recounts her telling anyone who would listen “that one day she was going to become the most famous fat girl that ever lived.”

She struck a deal with her parents: If she moved to New York and didn’t find musical success in five years, she would come home and study a more respectable field, like medicine. She left home in late 1960; “California Dreamin’” was released in December 1965. She later told an interviewer: “I really just made it under the wire!”

Broadway was Elliot’s first love, but folk music was the style of the day. She brought her own distinctive flair to it in her early groups, the Big 3 and then the Mugwumps, which featured a Canadian tenor named Denny Doherty. After the Mugwumps’ split, Doherty fled to the Virgin Islands with his new friends John and Michelle Phillips to work on material for a yet-unnamed group. Elliot had sung with them casually while they were all hanging out — at least once when they were all on LSD — and she knew her voice was the missing piece in their sound.

But John, the bandleader, was brutishly reluctant. According to Scott G. Shea, a biographer of the Mamas & the Papas, Phillips “had a vision in his head” of “a group that not only sounded like an electrified Peter, Paul and Mary, but also looked like them.” Shea puts it bluntly: “Michelle was to be the centerpiece, and, in his mind, Cass was too fat to even be considered.”

The group projected a chumminess that was central to their appeal, but few people know how hard Elliot had to push to become part of the band. She showed up unannounced in the Virgin Islands hoping to ingratiate herself, but Phillips wouldn’t budge until an act of fate intervened. While walking down the St. Thomas alley that the Mamas & the Papas would later immortalize in song, debris from a construction site hit Elliot on the head and knocked her unconscious. John Phillips would later claim that Elliot’s concussion caused her vocal register to change, and it was another of those stories Elliot learned to repeat with a self-deprecating joke.

“The real story is that John didn’t like my mother’s look,” Elliot-Kugell writes. She believes “he made up the story about a fake increase in vocal range to justify his choice to finally add my mom to the band months later.”

Elliot went solo after the short-lived group’s demise, buoyed by the success of “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” a Mamas & the Papas single on which she sang lead. The final solo album she released, in 1973, had a pointed title: “Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore.” “The moniker of ‘Mama’ had always felt like a reference to her size — that is, ‘Big Mama’ — and she hated that,” Elliot-Kugell writes.

Elliot remains an underrated heroine in the story of the Laurel Canyon scene, not only as a musician but also as an amiable hostess who knew how to link up like-minded people. Doherty liked to call her “the Puppeteer.”

In 1964, she introduced her friends John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky; they became the Lovin’ Spoonful. When she heard that David Crosby and Stephen Stills had begun making music together, she suggested they add a high voice to the mix, and brought them Graham Nash. “I will give you a hundred dollars,” David Crosby told Elliot’s biographer, “if you can find a single person who says they hated Cass.”

But there was also something bittersweet about Elliot’s kinship with all these men. “I think part of the reason they all adored her is they weren’t threatened by her,” Elliot-Kugell said. “She knew more about these guys and had a relationship on a deeper level than some of their own wives or girlfriends had.” She added with a wry chuckle, “Did that mean she didn’t want to jump into bed with half of them? She probably did!”

Elliot’s unrequited love for her bandmate Doherty was perhaps the hardest to bear, especially after he and Michelle Phillips had an affair that nearly broke up the band before their first album was even released. Elliot had been smitten since the night they met, at a Greenwich Village bar where they each threatened to drink the other under the table, and eventually decided to drink … under the table. As he put it in his one-man show about the group’s history, “I knew she loved me, and I loved her too, but not like she wanted me to. She did weigh 300 pounds, and I wasn’t man enough to deal with that.”

The most difficult passages of “My Mama, Cass” are those in which Elliot-Kugell reckons with her mother’s persistent loneliness. “After the shows, when they’re screaming her name onstage and she’s bowing, she was the only one going back to the hotel by herself,” she said. “Everybody else had someone, and she didn’t.”

Elliot’s need for love and companionship is what drove her to the decision — relatively radical for a famous woman in the late 1960s — to become a single mother. When she learned she was pregnant at the height of the group’s success, after a brief fling with its touring bassist, she was defiant in her decision to raise the child on her own. “As it turned out,” Elliot-Kugell writes, wrenchingly, “my mom’s desire to have someone in her life who wasn’t going to up and leave her was what led to her desire for a child. It’s how I came to be.”

WHEN I FINALLY got Sue Cameron on the phone, she was calling from the Atlantic Ocean, “somewhere between Bermuda and Portugal.” A journalist for more than 50 years who has published a book titled “Hollywood Secrets and Scandals,” she sometimes gives lectures on cruise ships. She was happy to reminisce about her old pal. “She had a big smile and this wide open face, very happy to see people,” Cameron said. “You just would immediately love her and want her to be your best friend.”

Cameron met Elliot when she interviewed the Mamas & the Papas in 1966; they realized they were neighbors and quickly became “sit-by-each-other’s-pool kind of friends.” Cameron has stories, like the one about the night they ran into Ann-Margret and Elliot delivered the perfect one-liner about her massive engagement ring (“I could skate on that”); or all the times Elliot would walk around with a credit card in her shoe because she didn’t like to carry a purse.

Her most painful memory is her final dinner with Elliot at Mr. Chow in the summer of 1974, before Elliot left for London. She’d never seen her friend so happy. “It was just a magical moment,” Cameron recalled. “It was just, like, the crescendo of her being. She’d had some TV specials, she was now going to go do a big nightclub act. Everything was fabulous.”

After a two-day stint of partying in London, Elliot told her friend Joe Croyle — a dancer in her show who was crashing with her at Harry Nilsson’s pad — that she was going to take a bath and turn in early because she was exhausted. Croyle figured she would be hungry too, so he fixed her a sandwich with ham, the only thing he could find in the fridge, along with some Coca-Cola. The ham sandwich, the cruelly cartoonish symbol that would come to define Elliot, was actually a gesture of care: a friend making her a meal she never got to enjoy.

Cameron heard about Elliot’s death in the newsroom of The Hollywood Reporter, where she was working at the time: “I kicked into professional mode and said, no one else is going to write that obit. I’m going to do it.” She tracked down Carr by phone in Nilsson’s apartment. “He could barely speak,” Cameron recalled. She asked what happened, and he said he didn’t know. “‘Oh, wait,’” she recalled him saying. “‘I see a half-eaten ham sandwich on the night stand. That’s good. You tell everybody that she choked on a ham sandwich, do you understand me?’”

“And I did it,” she added, “because I wanted to protect Cass.”

What was she protecting her from? “I was not aware of a lot of drugs,” she said. “I just wasn’t one of those people. And I had some suspicion around the time that she was going to London that she was on some sort of pills, but I didn’t really know anything.” In a split second, Carr and Cameron decided there was less shame in a woman ridiculed for her weight choking to death than there was in her having a drug problem. “What a terrible thing,” Cameron said, “but I was in too much of a state of shock to clean it up.”

She, too, is confounded by the story’s persistence. “Of all of the things I’ve done,” she said, “this ham sandwich has followed me my entire life.”

That story had long haunted Elliot-Kugell, too, though she felt some closure after Cameron privately divulged its origins to her when they met for lunch in 2000. Elliot-Kugell is cleareyed about what probably caused her mother’s death: “I mean, look. She was up for 48 hours, and she was at a party. Do the math.” But she doesn’t want to dwell on that. “The thing that was really important for me was that I didn’t want to write a salacious book,” she said.

In some sense, any memoir by a child of the Mamas & the Papas exists in the shadow of Mackenzie Phillips’s 2009 bombshell, “High on Arrival,” in which she accused her father John Phillips of sexual assault. But Elliot-Kugell’s memoir belongs on a different shelf entirely. It is a humanizing portrait of a woman whose legacy has, for far too long, been reduced to an outdated urban legend.

And it is a tale of an imperfect mother and a grieving daughter, of loss and long delayed catharsis. A few weeks before we spoke, Elliot-Kugell went to visit her mother’s grave. “It’s always weird when I go there, because I never know what to say,” she said. “But that day felt a little different because when I went up to the grave, I just said, ‘Hi.’ Like the way I would greet one of my cousins, or somebody who I know really well who I haven’t seen in a while.”

“I thought to myself, ‘Why, why why does it feel like this?’” she said.” All at once it dawned on her: “After going through this experience, I feel closer to her.”

The Great Read

Here are more fascinating tales you can’t help reading all the way to the end..

When an illegal smoke shop opened across the street, an Upper West Side councilwoman, vowed to close it. What happened next was “like a Fellini movie.”

The diabetes drug Ozempic has become a phenomenon, and its inescapable jingle — a takeoff of the Pilot song “Magic” — has played a big part in its story .

A man’s five-year stay at the New Yorker Hotel cost him only $200.57. Now it might cost him his freedom .

Researchers are documenting deathbed visions , a phenomenon that seems to help the dying, as well as those they leave behind.

Around 2020, the “right” pants began to swing from skinny to wide. But is there even a consensus around trends anymore ?

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