This phrase isn’t a widely recognized idiom that I’m familiar with, but it could have several metaphorical interpretations:
Possible meanings:
About irreversible change: Once something (or someone) has been through a transformative experience, you can’t go back and do it again the same way - the first experience has already changed it
About authenticity: Suggesting that genuine experiences or reactions can only happen once; a second attempt would be artificial or forced
About lost innocence: Once someone has been through a particular experience (especially a difficult one), they can’t return to their original state
Literally speaking, potatoes actually can be fried twice - this is a standard technique for making perfect french fries (blanching at lower temperature, then crisping at higher temperature).
Could you provide more context about where you encountered this phrase? Knowing the source or situation might help clarify its intended meaning. It could be:
A line from a book, movie, or song
A family saying or regional expression
Part of a larger conversation about life experiences
It’s doing better but not by much, though. It shouldn’t be speculating as much, given the lack of info on the potential saying.
A family saying or regional expression
Speaking on that I tried a few sayings from other languages. It seems to be hit-and-miss:
“Bread is bread, wine is wine” (Italian) - recognised properly as similar to “call a spade a spade”
“A good fish swims thrice” (Polish) - recognised properly as a recipe-like saying (the fish swims in water, then butter, then wine)
“Do you think mango core is soap?”, “Mango core is not soap” (Portuguese; specially common in Brazil) - it failed really hard. The rhetorical question / saying roughly means “this is blatantly absurd, why are you denying the obvious?”, or perhaps “cut off the crap”. But here’s the output:
Claude seems to be handling these better:
It’s doing better but not by much, though. It shouldn’t be speculating as much, given the lack of info on the potential saying.
Speaking on that I tried a few sayings from other languages. It seems to be hit-and-miss: