6.0634 And More Proverbs (2/32)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 1 Apr 1993 12:37:05 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0634. Thursday, 1 Apr 1993.


(1) Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 14:18:38 -0600 (21 lines)
From: Alan D Corre <corre@convex.csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Proverbs whose meaning has switched

(2) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 07:55 EST (11 lines)
From: MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET
Subject: Re: 6.0629 Rs: Further Proverbia (3/33)

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 14:18:38 -0600
From: Alan D Corre <corre@convex.csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Proverbs whose meaning has switched

"Feed a cold and starve a/of fever" is a sentence of the type "provoke me and
die" which implies a condition -- *if* you provoke me, you will die. I was
surprised once to find that some people interpret the proverb "Spare the rod
and spoil the child" (presumably based on Proverbs 13.24) as an injunction
not to beat children, whereas in reality it is the reverse. Incidentally, in
the north of England you can say "I'm starving of cold" where the original
meaning as in German "sterben" is retained. My dictionary calls the "die"
meaning "obsolete" and the "die of cold" meaning "archaic", but it is
alive and well in Manchester, or was when I lived there many years ago.
As to the word "bloody", I recall as a second former (= seventh grade, U.S.)
how the whole class waited with bated breath as the French teacher
translated "l'etendard sanglant est leve" since both "bloody" and "bleeding"
were totally taboo at that time (1942). (If anything, "bleeding" was even
worse than "bloody".) She got round it by saying "blood-stained". It took me
some time to get used to the fact that Americans used the words publicly
without qualms. Nowadays, of course, British TV, or should I say telly,
resounds with bloodies. Maybe that's why so many Brits want to emigrate.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 07:55 EST
From: MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET
Subject: Re: 6.0629 Rs: Further Proverbia (3/33)


"The proof of the pudding is in the eating"-- has changed too. Proof
meant testing, not a final result (like photo proofs).

Maybe we should suggest this to someone as a thesis topic!

Leslie Morgan