ifs and ans

English

Etymology

From the old rhyme "if 'ifs' and 'ans' were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers" (and variations). Compare if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. See an in archaic sense meaning "if".

Noun

ifs and ans pl (plural only)

1. hypotheticals; counterfactuals; things that one only wishes were the case
   • c. 1599, Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's Holiday:

     Away with these ifs and ans, Hans, and these et caeteraes, by mine honor Rowland Lacy none but the king shall wrong thee: […]

   • 1865, The Musical World, page 46:

     "Oh!" quoth the Emperor, "Oh, excellent oats! . . . you feed your horses upon ifs and ans. The man that invented ifs and ans certainly made gold of chopped straw! […]

   • 1912, Percy Adolphus Vaile, The Soul of Golf:

     And yet such is the constitution of the human golfing soul that it not only fails to achieve it, but invents for itself multiform and manifold ifs and ans for not achieving it— […]

Related terms

• if ifs and ans were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers' hands

See also

• ifs and buts
• ifs, ands, or buts