Build a better mouse-trap

Origin of: Build a better mouse-trap

Build a better mouse-trap

This is originally an American metaphor, dating from the late 19th century, which means ‘invent the next great thing or come up with a better idea’. It is actually a shortening of ‘build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door’, which is generally attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson although this exact wording cannot be found anywhere in his works. In Common Sense published in 1855, Emerson actually wrote, “If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods”. There is no mention of a ‘mousetrap’ anywhere in any of his written works. Emerson, however, was a popular speaker and gave many addresses. Thus, he may well have added or used the word ‘mousetrap’ in one of his speeches. Indeed, the earliest strongly matching citation for the mousetrap version in appears in The Atlanta Constitution published in 1882, shortly after Emerson’s death, “If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon or make a better mouse trap than his neighbors, though he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door”. The Atlanta Constitution attributed this quotation to Emerson and the general consensus is that Emerson often used the mousetrap version in his speeches without ever committing pen to paper. ‘Build a better mousetrap’ rather than ‘make a better mousetrap’ is first attested from 1901.