three bags full

three bags full, sir

Used to sarcastically characterize someone who obsequiously accepts any order or demand, no matter how unwise or unreasonable. It's never wise to surround yourself with subordinates whose only contribution to your ideas is "three bags full, sir." You need people who will challenge you to think or act in ways you hadn't considered.
See also: bag, sir, three
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

(yes sir, no sir) three bags ˈfull (sir)

(old-fashioned, humorous) said when you agree to do something that somebody asks you but think that they are rather rude or unreasonable: Our new manager doesn’t want to hear our opinions, all he wants is, ‘Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir.’This phrase is from the nursery rhyme, ‘Baa, baa, black sheep’.
See also: bag, full, three
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • three bags full, sir
  • yes sir, yes sir, three bags full, sir
  • dance attendance (up)on (someone)
  • dance attendance on
  • dance attendance on somebody
  • (Is) that everything?
  • vote of confidence
  • nugget
  • nugget of information
  • be a barrel of laughs
References in periodicals archive
Instead it's, 'Yes sir, no sir, three bags full..."
BELLAMY BEST MAN BISH GETS BOSHED!
None of that includes the damage I do in Boots the day before I go, where the intention is to buy a tube of toothpaste, but which ends up with me staggering out with three bags full to bursting.
Carole Malone: I always bag my 'extras'
I walked out of the store, leaving three bags full offish, milk, juices and eggs for them to put away.
Self-checkout growing pain
His novel You Too (1924) satirized advertising, and among his other novels are High Thursday (1928) and Three Bags Full (1936).
Burlingame, (William) Roger (1889-1967)
ISLAMABAD -- Three bags full of Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC) were found on Tuesday next to a garbage dump in Shafiqabad locality of Lahore city, a private news channel reported.
3 bags containing CNICs found in Lahore
"What I don't like, and what I've never had in my career, are people who just say, 'Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir'."
I HATE THE WAY STOKE S PLAY; CRUNCH TIME IN FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
The model, who is infamous for bedding footballer Ryan Giggs, is often gifted with clothes from the Debra boutique and on Tuesday she left with no less than three bags full of clothes.
Imogen Thomas struts in tiny orange dress as ex Jermain Defoe drives by
If his evident assertiveness with his very own European partner is anything to go by, we may surely conclude that "yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir" is one of the better polished phrases in the four EU languages in which Mr Clegg prides himself in being fluent.
Where is the voice(s) of experience?
I don't have to say, 'yes sir, no sir three bags full sir'.
The River Mersey runs through my venis; interview New hotels and apartments scrape the clouds, but down on the ground a proud woman of old Liverpool will always fight for the underdog
If I was expecting the 'Yes, Sir, No, Sir, three bags full, Sir' treatment I was soon disabused.
At what price some courtesy?
'I lost my job because I wouldn't say yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir to them.
Bellamy looks to follow Toshack lead 31 years on and fire winner in Barcelona
OUR search for new Scottish nursery rhymes is off to a good start - yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir.
Off the Record
Attempting to trace the hot -water pipes, Mr Vickers-Fletcher pulled uppart of the floor in the house's extension and to his surprise found three bags full of underwear.
Man found 160 pairs of knickers hidden in house
Jake, of Salendine Nook, filled three bags full of rubbish.
Jake tidies up town `grot spot'
What they don't need are weak, lily-livered toadies who'll wipe their backsides, stroke their egos and say "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir" when they should be saying "No bloody way, sir".
Carole Malone's column: Axe these clowns, for Peat sake