To be in disorder.
This is a nice phrase of somewhat obscure origins. Like most people, the only place I have ever heard this phrase used was in the song "Don’t Cry For Me Argentina," with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
You won’t believe me
All you will see is a girl you once knew
Although she’s dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you
Despite of its connection to Evita Perón I still think of being "at sixes and sevens" as a youngster’s dilemma, in which a child learning to count reaches six for the first time and then tries to count to seven only to find that both hands are open. I know, of course, that this scenario has nothing to do with the actual meaning of the phrase but somehow I can’t shake it.
I also imagine this phrase might pass through a love-letter, but that’s probably just wishful thinking that a bluestocking would direct such eloquent phrases at me.
