Meaning:
This proverbial saying has a straightforward literal meaning, although it is
intended to imply criticism of the English as a nation with little ambition.
Background:
There's a veiled criticism in this saying, that the English are fit for
little else, and it comes as no surprise that the two contenders who might
claim coinage of it come from two nations with some disdain for the English -
the Scots and the French.
The Scottish economist Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, 1776, wrote:
"To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of
customers, may at first sight, appear a project fit only for a nation of
shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of
shopkeepers, but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced
by shopkeepers. "
Napoleon I, who was familiar with Smith's work, is reported as later using a
French version to dismiss England's preparedness for war against France:
"L'Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers."
Josiah Tucker, the Dean of Gloucester, preceded them both in 1766, although
not with the precise text of the currently-used version of the phrase:
"And what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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Repeating the slightly denigrating word, Adam Smith seemed sour, resigned, and
at the same time awed by the power of commerce, to which he himself had made a
seminal contribution. Its currency, money, was the strongest story ever invented
by the human mind so far, strong enough to build empires.
