Puzzling Proverbs

[nickedoff12]

I was digging through my books this morning, and I rediscovered one with plenty of superstitions and proverbs.

A couple of the 'verbs were pretty farfetched and weird:

- Giving advice to a stupid man is like giving salt to a squirrel.

- from Turkey: Call the bear 'Uncle' till you are safe across the bridge.

- If it is not dry, it is better wet.

- If you have only a male goat, be in the middle of the fair with it.

- Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.

- Fences have ears.


Odd, huh?
Perhaps someone could explain these to me.

If any of you've got a whimsical proverb, post it on here please. They're really fun to read on a rainy sunday =)

 

[Melf]

- Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.

boiled carrots are softer than raw carrots/ common sense

- Fences have ears.

cos you dont know whos listerning on the otherside/dont tell secrets

something similar was used in 2nd world war in britain, but it was "walls have ears"

 

[GNC]

- Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.

boiled carrots are softer than raw carrots/ common sense

- Fences have ears.

cos you dont know whos listerning on the otherside/dont tell secrets

something similar was used in 2nd world war in britain, but it was "walls have ears"

Also a criticism of a brand of sausages.

 

[Melf]

- Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.

boiled carrots are softer than raw carrots/ common sense

- Fences have ears.

cos you dont know whos listerning on the otherside/dont tell secrets

something similar was used in 2nd world war in britain, but it was "walls have ears"

Also a criticism of a brand of sausages.

ok it took some time to realise about the sossies

 

[nikoteen1]

Call the bear 'Uncle' till you are safe across the bridge.

probably means something along the lines of be nice to your enemy while hes close enough to punch your lights out.

 

[nikoteen1]

Giving advice to a stupid man is like giving salt to a squirrel.

squirrels have no use for salt so dont waste your time giving them any, ungrateful little buggers.

 

[WhistlingJack]

- If it is not dry, it is better wet.

Try to put a positive spin on things / make the best of a bad situation?

 

[dreeness]

:?
How about

"Die dog or eat the hatchet"

or

"Needs must when the devil drives"

 

[andy_just_andy]

"Needs must when the devil drives"

Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary solutions.

 

[andy_just_andy]

How about

"Die dog or eat the hatchet"

When things go bad it's: die, dog, or eat the hatchet.

Die, put your tail between your legs and hide, or deal with it.

 

[nickedoff12]

Thanks for the replies!

Here are four more:

- A hundred bakers, a hundred millers, and a hundred tailors are three hundred thieves.

- All skill is in vain when an angel pees in the touch hole of your musket. ( what's a touch hole?)

- Do not ship all in one bottom.

- A loud cry but little wool, as the man said who shaved the sow.

 

[nickedoff12]

probably means something along the lines of be nice to your enemy while hes close enough to punch your lights out.

So 'Uncle' is a compliment?

 

[fluffle9]

- A hundred bakers, a hundred millers, and a hundred tailors are three hundred thieves.

- All skill is in vain when an angel pees in the touch hole of your musket. ( what's a touch hole?)

the first one i think means that you shouldn't trust anyone because they're all bastards, and the second - is a touch hole where the spark gets to the gunpowder or something (just a guess), so pissing in it would make the gunpowder wet and the gun unfirable (is that a word?)? i think it means that it's all very well being skilled but luck is a big factor.

probably means something along the lines of be nice to your enemy while hes close enough to punch your lights out.

So 'Uncle' is a compliment?

i don't think it's that it's a compliment exactly, just very familiar. i agree with nikoteen's interpretation.

 

[andy_just_andy]

- Do not ship all in one bottom.

Don't consign all your investments to one ship (bottom).

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

 

[Anome]

- A hundred bakers, a hundred millers, and a hundred tailors are three hundred thieves.

- All skill is in vain when an angel pees in the touch hole of your musket. ( what's a touch hole?)

the first one i think means that you shouldn't trust anyone because they're all bastards, and the second - is a touch hole where the spark gets to the gunpowder or something (just a guess), so pissing in it would make the gunpowder wet and the gun unfirable (is that a word?)? i think it means that it's all very well being skilled but luck is a big factor.

You're right about the touch-hole. It's the hole where you hope to get a flame or spark to ignite the powder. Getting water in there renders the weapon useless for anything other than club duties.

 

[nikoteen1]

nickedoff12 wrote:
Quote:
probably means something along the lines of be nice to your enemy while hes close enough to punch your lights out.


So 'Uncle' is a compliment?

well not a compilment as such but its better than saying "oi hairy arse is it true you shit in the woods?"

 

[rynner2]

not particularly puzzling, but this one was new to me:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel quoted an African proverb which I thought nicely summed up the feeling here: if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/davos07/

i like it! 8)

 

[Beakmoo]

- A loud cry but little wool, as the man said who shaved the sow.

There isn't much hair on a pig, and they make a hell of a lot more noise than a sheep if you try to shave them. So shaving a sow would be a lot of hassle for very little gain.

 

[Timble2]

It is a poor mouse that has but one hole.

 

[escargot]

especially when Frobush is about

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Call the bear 'Uncle' till you are safe across the bridge.

probably means something along the lines of be nice to your enemy while hes close enough to punch your lights out.

So 'Uncle' is a compliment?

Uncle is, at least potentially, a patron! I'd guess that the saying today would be "Don't call your employer a cnut until you've secured your next post."

Not, I'd guess, about enemies but those temporary alliances we need to make. 8)

 

[Richard_Cheese]

One I have heard for many years is, " I see, said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw."

 

[Nemo]

- A loud cry but little wool, as the man said who shaved the sow.

There isn't much hair on a pig, and they make a hell of a lot more noise than a sheep if you try to shave them. So shaving a sow would be a lot of hassle for very little gain.

But this has

 

[escargot]

I'm disturbed by the thought that someone knows such a lot about shaving pigs.

 

[Beakmoo]

One I have heard for many years is, " I see, said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw."

That's a good one. Probably written more as a pun than anything else.

Escargot, what I choose to do with my free time is no concern of yours.

 

[rynner2]

One I have heard for many years is, " I see, said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw."

That's a good one. Probably written more as a pun than anything else.

more info:

The more poular, well known version of this is "I see, said the blind man, to his deaf dog, and he picked up his hammer and saw"

This is an example of a Wellerism. Wellerisms got their name from the Charles Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers." Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick's good-natured servant, and his father had a habit of following a well-known saying or phrase with some kind of phrase that implied humor, irony, or a pun.

In this circumstance, the phrase "i see" has a double meaning, in that by "I see" , the blind man doesn't "see" anything with his eyes, but rather simply means "I understand". The extra bit about saying something (whether it is directed at his deaf dog, wife, daughter, brother, man, etc) to one who is deaf, is pointless and adds a little humor to the phrase. The other bit on the end is just more of the same "As he picked up his hammer and saw" wouldn't be nearly as funny if it were stated "as he picked up his hammer and cutting tool"

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/37029

 

[Anonymous]

That's strange - I was always told it was...

"a blind man on a galloping horse"

as in...

You've got a stain on your jumper, but a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't notice.

But then, I'm not sure of anything anymore, not after escargot1 put that spell on me.

 

[escargot]

Well, it's the last one I'll be casting until I find a new pig-hair supplier.

 

[MercuryCrest]

I've heard of the "...hammer and saw" version, but my favorite (and the one I had first heard in my youth)...

"I see," said the blind man, as he pissed into the wind, "it's all coming back to me now."

 

[glamour_dust]

These are strange to me. Some very.

Source here

A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

A black hen lays a white egg.

A cat in gloves catches no mice.

A cock is valiant on his own dunghill.

A good anvil does not fear the hammer.

A great dowry is a bed full of brambles.

An ass loaded with gold climbs to the top of the castle.

As the fool thinks, so the bell clinks.

Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune.

Before you make a friend eat a bushel of salt with him.

Diseases are the interests of pleasures.

Dogs that put up many hares kill none.

Every barber knows that.

Fine words butter no parsnips.

Fish and company stink in three days.

"Hamlet" without the Prince of Denmark .