Justin, the father of Julia, my 10-year-old daughter’s best friend, has just called, looking for his daughter.
Julia and my daughter Meg have just spent the night with Mame-Diarra, the other friend in the triad that was formed in kindergarten, and now all three are at my house.
Justin asked me when I wanted him to pick up Julia, and I told him that Mame-Diarra was staying until 6 p.m. the next day, so it was “in for a penny, in for a pound.”
Meaning that as long as Meg had one friend here, she might as well have two, and so Julia was welcome to stay with us until 6 tomorrow night, 26 hours from now.
He said he’d be by shortly to pick her up, at which point I realized that he hadn’t the slightest idea what I meant in using this oh-so-very-English proverb of “in for a penny, in for a pound.”
Which got me to thinking about English proverbs.
I clicked on a link to English proverbs and read through them, making a list of the ones I’d heard most frequently in my family, most often from my mother and my two grandmothers:
A watched pot never boils (probably said often in a nation of tea-drinkers)
Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t
Cold hands, warm heart
Discretion is the better part of valour
Don’t cry over spilt milk
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs
Good things come to those who wait
Great minds think alike
It takes all sorts
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good
Laughter is the best medicine
Make hay while the sun shines
Many hands make light work
Money doesn’t grow on trees
No rest for the weary
My mother’s favorite, which isn’t on this list, is: “All things must pass,” and my dad’s favorites are, “Where there’s muck there’s money” (he was a farmer’s boy) and, “It’s a good life if you don’t weaken.”
Another proverb (or perhaps “saying” might be a better word for it) said often in families like mine from the north of England is, “There’s now’t so queer as folk,” meaning, there’s nothing so strange as people.
The only possible response to this statement is, “Except more folk.”
Clearly, “It takes all sorts!”
***
Benjamin Franklin was probably the most productive collector and producer of proverbs in the United States, ranging from “He that lives upon hope will die fasting” to “You can bear your own faults and why not a fault in your wife?” Take a look at all the wisdom in Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Do you and/or your family have any favorite proverbs?
Here are some proverbs from around the world: the American South, Italy, Africa, France, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, China, and Russia.
Back in Boston 
I often use “Nowt so queer as folks”. I also like “A stitch in time saves nine”. I think it’s a bit sad how little we use proverbs, compared to previous generations. My granny was full of them. How about “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride”. “Too many cooks spoil the broth”. Ooh, you’ve got me thinking now.”If it’s for you, it won’t go by you”.
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Thank you for your additions! I’d never heard “If it’s for you, it won’t go by you.” That’s a new one to me. So, are you from the north of England?
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You’ve got to be careful about using the word “queer” here in good ol’ USA — you’re likely to be hassled by the language police, even with the most innocent usage in an old proverb. Sad, really, that we can’t feel queerly anymore, or gay on a sunny day! At any rate, many of these proverbs are familiar to me. Akin to “in for a penny, in for a pound” … a favorite in my frugal family is “penny wise and pound foolish.”
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My Czechoslovakian great grandmother who homesteaded in North Dakota would always say of an odd couple or a surprising romantic pair: “there’s never a pot so crooked, there isn’t a lid to match!” If I Google the phrase, the closest answer comes as “…there isn’t a lid to fit it” – but that doesn’t have the same Midwestern lilt and rhythm, so it must have come from some other language and was translated in multiple ways? I have always loved that saying, so true.
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Michelle, thanks for writing! I read your blog, http://colliefarm.wordpress.com/, avidly and never miss a post about your farming life. I love your Czech great-grandmother’s saying–so true! It’s along the lines of, “There’s something for everyone,” only so much more poetically expressed!
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My eyes were bigger than my stomach.
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Good one!
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Maybe we will be thinking of this one with Thanksgiving coming up in ten days!
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Growing up I often heard many of these expressions. Mostly from my grandparents.
Counting money not yet earned for early childhood chores, “don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.” As a young child I totally did not get this. Absolutely I could count the chickens in the chicken coop. At some point…..maybe after watching my grandmother candle eggs, I guess I figured it out.
As an awkward teenager I particularly detested the expression “pictures never lie.” Said to me by “friends.”
When I desired some material possession and it was not in the budget I remember hearing “all that glitters is not gold.”
This week after a co-worker spent a great amount of effort and work helping another employee, and it seemed to be totally under appreciated, he said “no good deed goes unpunished.” Could I have responded with “kill them with kindness?”
I really like “many hands make light work.” Perhaps I can convince my significant other of that and we can get off FB and get some chores done!
Nice article and enjoyed seeing the photograph of the coins.
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Susan, thanks for writing! I also love, “No good deed goes unpunished,” though I heard it first while working for a Rupert Mudoch company–not surprisingly!
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