Plain as the nose on one’s face

Origin of: Plain as the nose on one’s face

Plain as the nose on one’s face

Something that is obvious or very clear, attributed to Francois Rabelais in 1552 by Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, but Rabelais was being translated into English for the first time c. 1653. Long before this, Shakespeare had used the expression sarcastically in Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594) Act II, Scene I, “Invisible, as a nose on a man’s face, or a weathercock on a steeple!” Shakespeare’s jocular use of the expression indicates that it had been around in English for some time. Therefore, the attribution to Rabelais seems doubtful. Other sources maintain the expression dates from the mid-1500s but do not offer a definite citation. It sometimes appears in the form of ‘clear as the nose on one’s face’ but this is probably a misuse.