Sauce for the Goose
Written on May 16, 2026
Some people tell me geese look like ducks with long necks. There's a resemblance, and that's about all I can say about it. I've never eaten goose meat, and I likely won't, even if it's served as part of a meal.
I don't like the taste of duck meat, so I probably wouldn't like the taste of goose meat. Of course, I'm pretty sure I'd like it if it was the only thing to eat after a few days of going without food. Hunger does that kind of thing to a person.
Sauce for the Goose
The meaning behind the phrase is that it makes things equal. I'm certain that the phrase "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" was originally said this way. The version I always heard substituted "good" for "sauce".
I've heard "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" more times than I care to remember. Until a few years ago, and only because I never thought about it more than a few seconds at a time, I didn't even know what a gander was.
I've also heard "too much sauce spoils the goose" and I have no idea where that comes from.
Way back when I saw "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" for the first time, I remember when Captain Spock said to Mr. Saavik (a female Vulcan officer), "Sauce for the goose, Mr. Saavik. The odds will be even." I had no idea what it meant back then, and I really didn't care.
I remember watching "A Christmas Story" many years ago, years before the TNT television network decided to air it back to back for 24 hours. There were some scenes where dogs busted in and stole the cooked turkey, and the family ended up having Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant.
To this day, I can't remember whether they ate a goose or a duck at the restaurant. I don't think they ever said what it was, and I'm not going to make an effort to watch it again just to find out.
Word Usage
Geese must have been much more plentiful a couple of hundred years ago than they are today. Why else would so many phrases involving a goose exist? Like "your goose is cooked" and "wild goose chase".
Why else would people use it as a nickname? Like one of the characters in the original "Top Gun" movie. Or part of a trademark? Like "Mother Goose" and "Granny Goose"?
Geese is the plural of goose, but goose also means the female. Gander is the male, and a gosling is the child. It's hard to remember things like this when I have to remember the terms for other types of animals as well.
A Cornish Game Hen isn't necessarily a hen, even though hen means female chicken (and the female of a number of bird species).