Hobson’s Choice

Thomas Hobson, the Cambridge carrier who died on 1 January 1631, kept a large stable of horses to hire out to the university men, but would never let a horse go out of its proper turn. A customer who objected to the horse he was offered was told this or none, and Hobson’s choice became a proverb. Steele in the Spectator thought it was wrongly used of a man with no choice at all, when it properly meant making a choice that was fair to whoever came next. The saying is still in everyday use.