too many cooks spoils the broth

English

Proverb

too many cooks spoils the broth

1. Uncommon form of too many cooks spoil the broth.
   • 1662, Balthazar Gerbier, A Brief Discourse Concerning the Three Chief Principles of Magnificent Building. Viz. Solidity, Conveniency, and Ornament., London, pages 23–24:

     It hath been obſerved among the French (a Nation as much addicted to changes as any) that when the charge of an undertaking hath been committed to many, it cauſed but confuſion, and therefore its a ſaying among them, Trop de Cuiſineirs gattent le pottage, Too many Cooks ſpoils the Broth.

   • 1886 April, Martha Ogden Inglis, “Our Baby, and How We Undid Her. […] Chapter IV.”, in Leroy M[ilton] Yale [Jr.], Marion Harland [pseudonym; Mary Virginia Terhune], editors, Babyhood: A Monthly Magazine for Mothers, […], volume II, number 17, New York, N.Y.: Babyhood Publishing Company, page 168, column 1:

     “Leave her to me,” said that courageous woman. “‘Too many cooks spoils the broth.’”

   • 1949, Gladys Hasty Carroll, chapter 4, in West of the Hill, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 52:

     There, git away from here, the both of ye. Too many cooks spoils the broth.

   • 1977, Berniece Rabe, chapter 3, in The Girl Who Had No Name, New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton, →ISBN, page 38:

     Hey, Girlie, let me help you finish setting that table while Lil slices them potatoes. Too many cooks spoils the broth.

References

• Zellig S[abbettai] Harris (1970) “Transformational Theory”, in Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics (Formal Linguistics Series; 1), Dordrecht, South Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company, →LCCN, section “Transformations”, page 560: “Evidence of a dropped V_ap is particularly clear when a plural subject has a singular verb: Too many cooks spoils the broth←Having (or The action of) too many cooks spoils the broth (the common form Too many cooks spoil the broth is not understandable literally); […]”.
• Central Intelligence Agency (1971 August) “Know Your Idioms”, in Language Highlights: A Review of Foreign Language Developments of Interest to Agency Personnel, number 1, The Language School, Office of Training, page 10, column 1:

  Take a minute to think over the above title -⁠- Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth -⁠- do you see anything wrong with it? If, after thinking about it, it still seems right, compare it with the following: Too many cooks spoils the broth. Comparing the two, you will readily see why the latter is the correct version. What we are saying when we use the idiom is not that an inordinate number of cooks make awful soup, but that having too many advisers can be harmful to any endeavor. Of course, in calling this the "correct" version, we are mindful of the fact that in language any usage is correct if enough people say it or if it is generally acceptable to the majority of speakers.

• James D[avid] McCawley (1984) “Introduction”, in Otto Jespersen, Analytic Syntax, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page xii:

  (3) […] c. Too many cooks spoil the broth. S(3PS₂) V O / In (3c), for example, cooks is treated as the subject of too many, as it would be in the semi-sentence *Cooks being too many spoils the broth.¹ […] ¹ The sentential status of too many cooks in (3c) is particularly clear for those idiolects in which singular number agreement is preferred: Too many cooks spoils the broth; […]