"Fair to Middlin'"

[stoutfellow]

Is "fair" better than "middlin'", or is it worse? (Or is the phrase not a range, but an approach?)

Comments

[commodorified]

Fair is better.

[stoutfellow]

That was my thought, but why does it come first, then? Normally, the lower end of an interval is named first. ("Top to bottom" might seem like an exception, but it describes a direction, not just an interval.)

[commodorified]

Euphony, I'm pretty sure. "Middlin' to fair" just doesn't sound as pleasing, and we tend to collectively refine folk sayings over the years.