THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - At sixes and sevens

In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expressions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia

AT SIXES AND SEVENS

This phrase probably derives from dice-games, and seems to have developed from a 14th century idiom set on cinque and sice. So originally the numbers were not six and seven but five and six, and the expression was used in connection with the elements of chance and luck in human life, rather than disorder or disagreement.

There is a far more colorful theory of the origin of the phrase, though its historical accuracy is questionable. Two of the old Livery Companies (originally the craft guilds) of the City of London had a longstanding quarrel over their order of precedence. The Skinners and the Merchant Taylors, both founded in 1327, ranked sixth and seventh in priority among the guilds, but which was sixth and which was seventh? In ceremonial processions, the two groups were at sixes and sevens over the right to claim sixth position, and the ensuing fights no doubt had the whole parade at sixes and sevens. In 1484, a settlement was eventually enforced by the Lord Mayor to entertain each other annually to dinner, and the companies were to take turns year by year at sixth position in processions.