Parables and Proverbs

[Ridgley]

Recently I was sitting in my garden, and I was just remembering something that my grandfather would say he was not a man of many words but when he did he tend to speak in parables one of my favourite he would say ?all are born common only few have the sense? Does anyone have any they would like to share I find different cultural parables and proverbs interesting?

[mockney piers]

A very spanish way of looking at things is El diablo sabe m?s por viejo que por diablo.

The devil knows more because he's old than because he's the devil.

It has layers of interpretation, but basically it means wisdom comes with age.

[steveo]

My gran used to say, 'Don't fart until your arse is ready.'

[Alan Medic]

I remember my father used an expression which used to bring him comfort. 'The hair of the dog'!

[LadyDeliah]

'if you don't hear, you will have to feel' said to a child by their parent when not listening to their warnings not to do something dangerous.

[womanofdulwich]

The only phrase I remember my grandad regularly used was "when its brown its done, when its black its bxggered"- to be said with a Derbyshire accent.Usually when cooking.

[Guest]

'An ugly bugger for luck'. Popular on the Welsh side of my family.

[Ridgley]

Great stuff keep them coming:))

[Moos]

My ex's grandma used to say 'Shining like a shitty back door on a frosty morning'.

No-one had a clue what she meant.

[maxxi]

My grandmother used to say something the meaning of which still eludes me:

"Frost put the taters down, wind blew the candle out." (said with Somerset accent).

[steveo]

Another gem of my gran's was, 'Remember, no one knows what they're doing.'

[Huguenot]

Ha!

I know what Moo's grandmum meant, but I have no idea about maxxi's. No idea at all. It sounds like an agricultural analogy, but the seamless segue to occasional lighting left me high and dry.

[Moos]

Huguenot, if you can tell me I will locate my ex from wherever he's buggered off to and let him know!

[Huguenot]

Isn't it a rather fatalistic view that the changing of seasons is inevitable, and likely as not the consequences may not be positive?

Sort of a reciprocal for 'make hay whilst the sun shines'?

[maxxi]

I thought Moos' meant that when everything in sight was covered in a frosty white then the door covered in shite (presumably fresh and brown?) would stand out - maybe meaning to stand out from the crowd in a less than positive way? (Your Majesty is like a stream of bat's piss etc etc)Can't quite get to why a door would be so covered but - hey it's the countryside right?

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

And I thought it meant 'all that glisters is not gold' sort of thing, ie, when all doorsteps are covered in frost you can't tells which is clean or dirty.

[maxxi]

That sounds far more likely PG

[Huguenot]

Ah, yes sorry, Iwas tryiong to interpret this one: "Frost put the taters down, wind blew the candle out."

[maxxi]

Oh right - then yes I think it was said with a sense of foreboding regarding the oncoming winter but also with a kind of 'told you so' expression which doesn't seem to make sense - but they could be a grim lot down there.

[Frankito]

One of Dad's many snippets of wisdom was: what is for you won't go by you.

[Huguenot]

Ah, that's on a par with one of my Dad's - I want never gets, but don't ask don't want.

Torture.

[Frankito]

Genius torture...! But lovely all the same.

[reetpetite]

My Mum use to say " All good things come to those who wait" what she didnt say was how long would I have to wait !

[Ridgley]

Mum still says the piggy snout is now long ? meaning you are now a parent so you now understand.

[Guest]

Shit floats - my father's preferred way of acknowledging success by pretty much anyone else.