Proverbs from your country
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Topic: Proverbs from your country
Posted By: BaldFriede
Subject: Proverbs from your country
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 05:37
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I thought it would be fun to see what kind of proverbs people have in other countries and will start with a few German ones. "Wer andern eine Grube gräbt fällt selbst hinein". ("He who digs a pit trap for his neighbour will fall into it himself"). "In der Nacht sind alle Katzen grau". ("At night all cats are grey"). "Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund". ("Morning hour has gold in its mouth"). "Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist des Talers nicht wert". ("He who does not honour the penny is not worth the shilling"; I had to use diferent coinage for translation). "Lügen haben kurze Beine". ("Lies have short legs"). "Wie man in den Wald hineinruft, so schallt es heraus". ("As you call into the forest, thus it will reverberate"). What are some of your proverbs? -------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Replies:
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 07:13
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Do I recognize some kinship with Dutch proverbs? Here are six identical or with at least great similarity from the Netherlands:
"Wie een kuil graaft voor een ander valt er zelf in". ("He who digs a pit trap for someone else will fall into it himself").
"Bij nacht zijn alle katjes grauw" ("At night all little cats are grey").
"De morgenstond heeft goud in de mond"". ("Morning hour has gold in its mouth").
"Wie het kleine niet eert is het grote niet weerd" ". ("He who does not honour the small is not worth the great").
"Al is de leugen nog zo snel, de waarheid achterhaalt hem wel". ("However fast the lie may be, the truth will catch it finally").
"Wie kaatst moet de bal verwachten" ("He who plays squash should expect the ball to return").
Some others:
"Oost, west, thuis best". ("East, west, at home is the best" - "Home sweet home" as the English saying goes).
"Eigen haard is goud waard". ("The own hearth is worth gold").
"Oefening baart kunst". ("Exercising brings forth art").
"Spreken is zilver, zwijgen is goud". ("Speaking is silver, silence is golden").
"Van een mooi bord kun je niet eten". ("One cannot eat from a beautiful dish").
"Wie zijn billen brandt moet op de blaren zitten". ("He who burns his *ss will have to sit on the blisters").
And there are many, many more...
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Posted By: crimhead
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 08:26
| "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice we won't get fooled again"(or something to that effect) - George W. Bush |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:23
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A rolling stone gathers no moss ------------- 
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:28
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If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs, you either don't realise how bad the problem is, or you're a bad helicopter pilot. -------------
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:34
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Whers there's muck...there's brass! Ay up! ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:36
We have proverbs for those same ideas as well: Cine sapă groapa altuia cade în ea. (#1) Minciuna are picioare scurte. (#2) ------------- 
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BaldFriede wrote:Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:36
Are you sure we're not talking about The Decemberists   ?In Italian there are too many to mention... Some are very similar to the English ones, others are very different. However, as to now I have some trouble in remembering some interesting ones, so I suppose I'll just wait until I do. |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:43
Or about The Who   ?-------------
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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:44
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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:44
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Ah, "someone else" beat me to it.
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Posted By: progaeopteryx
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 18:54
| The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 19:10
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A shut mouth catches no flies.
Short visits makes long friends. ------------- What? |
Posted By: ClemofNazareth
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 19:16
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"The early bird may catch the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese."
------------- "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 19:20
An Italian version of the above proverb: "L'ospite č come il pesce - dopo tre giorni puzza" (guests are like fish - on the third day they start stinking ). |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 19:24
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Violence is golden. What a story these old walls could tell. And if they do start talking, run away!!! In God we trust; all others pay cash. Gone today and here tomorrow. A stained soul cringes at the small details in the mirror of embarrassment. Who ate the world? ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: TheCaptain
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 20:11
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You attract more flies with honey than vinegar. Although I am completely in favor of changing "flies" to something people would actually want. ------------- Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal. |
Posted By: JJLehto
Date Posted: June 18 2009 at 20:20
| Piss us off and we'll nuke you? |
Posted By: rosenbach
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 09:46
Mexican version of the same "Las visitas y los muertos a los tres dias apestan" (guest and dead people on the third day they start stinking) |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 09:51
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Many a muckle makes a mickle! ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 09:55
^ I thought it was the other way around - nevermind, you can't have too many of either in the long run.  ------------- What? |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 09:59
Interesting - for me that phrase was always attributed to Benjamin Franklin; it was published in his Almanack back in the mid 18th century. I'm sure the phrase is much older than that then.  |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 10:03
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He who laughs last, laughs loudest. Or variation is He who laughs last, laughs best. ------------- 
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Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 10:25
The latter may be derived from the Dutch variant ("Wie het laatst lacht, lacht het best."). -------------
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Posted By: clarke2001
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 10:26
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Vuk dlaku mijenja, ali ćud nikada. The wolf changes his hair, but never his character. Besposlen pop i jariće krsti. An idle priest will start baptizing goats. Tiha voda brege dere. Quiet water wears down mountains. Bolje spriječiti nego liječiti. Better to prevent than to cure. Kad mačka ode, miševi kolo vode. When cat is absent, mice are dancing. Hvali more, drž' se kraja. Respect the sea, stick to the shore. Na ljutu ranu ljutu travu. Nasty wound needs a nasty herb. Počisti prvo pred svojim vratima. First sweep the ground in front of your own door. Puno baba, kilavo dijete. Many midwives, child will be lazy. Teško žabu u vodu natjerati. It is not difficult to force the frog into the water. Sit gladnom ne vjeruje. The well fed one does not believe to the hungry one. U svakoj šali pola istine. In ever joke there's half a truth. Bog je prvo sebi bradu stvorio. God first created a beard for himself. And my favourite one: Put u pakao popločan je dobrim namjerama. A road to hell is cobbled with good intentions. |
Posted By: limeyrob
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 14:23
| Red sky at night - shepherd's (sailor's) delight. Red sky in morning - shepherd's warning. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 19 2009 at 14:24
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When the rooks nest high we're in for a fry, but when they nest low we're in for a blow. ------------- What? |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: June 22 2009 at 17:37
Some Croatian proverbs have their Dutch equivalents. When the translation is (nearly) literal, I coloured them blue. For the red ones I added the translation in English. -------------
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Posted By: JJLehto
Date Posted: June 22 2009 at 21:42
Saw that once, although it went "He who laughs last, thinks slowest" |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: June 22 2009 at 21:52
another variation of it is "he who laughs last did not understand the joke" -------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: June 23 2009 at 06:04
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Here's a weird one that I don't think originated here: There's more than one way to skin a cat. I guess it hearkens back to an era when we were eating cats? Just checked, Mark Twain: Mark Twain used your version in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court in 1889: “she was wise, subtle, and knew more than one way to skin a cat”, that is, more than one way to get what she wanted. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mor1.htm - http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mor1.htm Some writers have pointed to its use in the southern states of the US in reference to catfish, often abbreviated to cat, a fish that is indeed usually skinned in preparing it for eating. However, it looks very much from the multiple versions of the saying, their wide distribution and their age, that this is just a local application of the proverb. Now if you want to go into a whole weird area, look up noodling... ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted By: crimhead
Date Posted: June 23 2009 at 10:46
But Keith Richards gets alcohol,drugs and money for his troubles. |
Posted By: npjnpj
Date Posted: June 24 2009 at 04:44
| The early bird catches the worm - The second mouse gets the cheese. |