Published on 12, July, 2020
My head is a repository of all the old sayings my mum used when I was little and they stuck.
I only ever hear people my age (50+) using these now.
It's a shame if their use disappears completely.
I'd be curious to know whether any of the younger members of the forum know/use these.
Please share any you know.
There is a lot of wisdom in these.
A few that spring to mind immediately.
A stitch in time saves nine.
He who hesitates is lost.
Look before you leap.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Jack of all trades, master of none
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
Youth is wasted on the young
Kill two birds with one stone.
A bad workman blames his tools
A fool and his money are soon parted
Honesty is the best policy
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Careless talk costs lives
Don't rob Peter to pay Paul
I have a good one, "Fine words butter no parsnips". My parents, when I was a child, thought that I had made it up, but I eventually found it in a book, much to their surprise.
In Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels ,set in Nelson's navy, Captain Aubrey is always mangling sayings and Biblical quotes - like gabardine swine, rather than Gadarene swine - to which his knowing friend, Dr Maturin (naval surgeon), suggests even more convoluted 'corrections'.
John Major once said, 'A Soundbite never buttered a parsnip'.
Which just goes to prove the old saying: "never pick at a metaphor, it can leave a nasty scab"...