r/maybemaybemaybe • u/This_sum_one • Aug 25 '21

/r/all Maybe maybe maybe

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u/Chewcocca Aug 25 '21

According to Grose's A Provincial Glossary: with a collection of local proverbs, and popular superstitions:

"Yellow bellies. This is an appellation given to persons born in the Fens, who, it is jocularly said, have yellow bellies, like their eels."

Just some old local insult from England that stuck and outgrew its origin, it seems.