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Robert Frost’s Proverb: “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Friday, September 18th, 2009The proverb “Good fences make good neighbors” has been around for a couple of centuries in different forms. One place it can be found is in Poor Richard’s Almanack by Benjamin Franklin. His version is: “Love your neighbor; yet don’t pull down your hedge.”
It’s interesting that the specific wording of the proverb, “Good fences make good neighbors” is fairly modern. It comes from Robert Frost’s poem Mending Wall from 1914. The poem centers around this concept and questions whether it’s true or not. Here’s the poem…
Mending Wall
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors”.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.” I could say “Elves” to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”Listen to an MP3 of Mending Wall as read by Alan Davis-Drake for LibriVox
Listen to a different MP3 of Mending Wall as read by Teresa Montgomery for Librivox
The narrator of the poem is annoyed by his neighbor’s insistence that there has to be a fence between them. If only his neighbor would get beyond his father’s beliefs – originating in an old proverb – and reconsider his thinking.
What’s ironic is that Frost coined the new wording of a proverb: “Good fences make good neighbors”, while questioning the very wisdom behind it!
Time and Tide Wait for No Man… Is it the “tides” or “noontide”?
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Back in July I wrote a post about the proverb “Time and Tide Wait for No Man“. MC commented, “It has nothing to do with the sea, it’s ‘tide’ as in ‘noontide’.” Noontide means noon or midday. I still think it has to do with the tides. Answers.com agrees: “This proverbial phrase, alluding to the fact that human events or concerns cannot stop the passage of time or the movement of the tides, first appeared about 1395 in Chaucer’s Prologue to the Clerk’s Tale.”
What do you think?
Proverb: Time and tide wait for no man.
Friday, July 24th, 2009Now’s a good time to keep this proverb in mind… if you’re going to take a walk on the beach or near a river… you may want to check a high tide chart… because…
Time and tide wait for no man.
My husband and I almost learned this lesson the hard way today. We were taking a hike on the shore of a river… on the way back we noticed the water was very obviously rising. Good thing we decided to turn back when we had or we would have had to swim back and I wouldn’t have had these lovely shots to take home (my camera would have gotten wet!)…
About the Old Proverb “Early to Bed, Early to Rise…”
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008I have a correction to make – and investigating my error has led me to an interesting discovery. Way back in 2005, I was asked about the saying, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” At the time I attributed it to Benjamin Franklin. The saying was in Franklin’s book “Poor Richard’s Almanac” in 1735.
(An aside: Everyone has heard about Almanacs. They used to be very important. In Benjamin Franklin’s time, everyone had one. They gave information about the tides, the cycles of the moon, seasons, the dates of the holidays, etc. You have to consider the times to realize their significance. For example, if you were going out at night, the cycle of the moon was important, since there weren’t street lamps lighting the whole way!)
Franklin, as well as other almanac writers, peppered his book with witticisms and proverbs. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” is one of the sayings he used. This proverb actually originated long before Franklin’s time. It was seen in print as early as 1496, in a piece called The Treatise of Fishing with an Angle. There it is referred to as an old English proverb:
Also whoever wishes to practice the sport of angling, he must rise early, which thing is profitable to a man in this way. That is, to wit: most for the welfare of his soul. For it will cause him to be holy, and for the health of his body. For it will cause him to be well, also for the increase of his goods, for it will make him rich. As the old English proverb says: “Whoever will rise early shall be holy, healthy, and happy.”
So the proverb was around in some form before 1496, since they were already calling it old, even then.
After 1496, the proverb is found in print in other variations:
1523 – Early rising maketh a man whole in body, holer (holier?) in soul and richer in goods.
(Found in The Book of Husbandry by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert)
1577 – Rise you early in the morning, for it hath properties three: holiness, health and happy wealth, as my father taught me.
(Found in the Boke of Nurture by Hugh Rhodes)Finally, in 1639 the proverb is seen in print in its current form in a book called Paroemiologia by John Clarke: “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
Interestingly, there’s another similar proverb from around 1830, “The cock doth crow to let you know, If you be wise, ‘Tis time to rise.”
The two proverbs came together to form the nursery rhyme:
The cock crows in the morn
To tell us to rise,
And he that lies late
Will never be wise:
For early to bed,
And early to rise,
Is the way to be healthy,
And wealthy and wise.So remember – Go to bed early tonight!
-Mama Lisa
Housewarming and Proverbs about One’s House
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006As you may already know, a housewarming is a party for someone who has just moved into a new home. Last month I wrote a little about housewarming traditions. Since then, I’ve discovered that many people are interested in learning more about housewarming traditions, gifts, sayings and poems.
I found some proverbs related to buying or having a house…
-One’s house, one’s castle.
-My house is my castle.
-The house shows the owner.
-Home is where the heart is.
-He that buys a house ready wrought, hath many a pin and nail for naught.
-Better one’s house too little one day, then too big all the year after.I particularly like this French proverb…
A chaque oiseau, son nid est beau.
Meaning… To every bird, its own nest is beautiful.If anyone’s aware of any other housewarming sayings, poems or traditions, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
UPDATE: There’s one other saying I just remembered… Home, Sweet Home. My mother used to say this to me when I was a child, and we’d just get home. Now I say it to my children. I’ve seen it on signs that can be hung in the house.
July Proverbs
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006If the first of July, it be rainy weather,
‘Twill rain, more or less, for four weeks together.*
Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.*
Those who in July are wed,
Must labor for their daily bread.*
Bow-wow dandy fly,
Brew no beer in July.*
Whatever July and August do not boil,
September cannot fry.
June Proverbs
Thursday, June 15th, 2006Here are some English proverbs and nursery rhymes about June…
June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children’s hands with posies.***
Marry when June roses grow,
Over land and sea you’ll go.***
A good leak in June
Sets all in tune.***
A dripping June
Puts all things in tune.***
Calm weather in June
Sets all in tune.***
Here are some French proverbs about June. They’re mainly about the rain and crops…
Juin bien fleuri,
Vrai paradis.June well in bloom,
True paradise.**
S’il pleut à la saint Médard,
Il pleuvra quarante jours plus tard,
À moins que saint Barnabé
Lui coupe l’herbe sous le pied.If it rains for St Médard (on June 8th)
It will rain 40 days later,
Unless St Barnabé (on June 11th)
Cuts the grass below his feet.***
Eau de juin
Ruine le moulin.June water (Rain in June)
Ruins the mill**
En juin c’est la saison
De tondre les moutons.In June it’s the season,
To sheer the sheep.**
Qui en juin se porte bien,
Au temps chaud ne craindra rien.Who in June is in good health,
Has nothing to fear in the hot weather.***
Here’s a Spanish proverb about June…
En junio, la hoz in puño.
In June, the scythe in hand.
(Meaning, It’s time to gather hay.)***
Feel free to comment below with proverbs from your country!
Many thanks to Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français for sending me the Spanish proverb and some of the French proverbs.
How Do You Sneeze in Your Country?
Friday, June 2nd, 2006Today Devon over at Head, Shoulders, Knees and all that wrote a blog post about sneezing in Japan. He said in Japan they say hak-shun when they sneeze. In English we say a-choo.
After Japanese people sneeze, no one says anything special.
In English we say God bless you or Gesundheit. Gesundheit is a German word that literally means health. In German, and also in Yiddish, it’s also said after someone sneezes.
In Italian, they say Felicita (Happiness) after someone sneezes. In French they say Que Dieu vous bénisse (May god bless you) or A tes/vos souhaits (lit. To your wishes).
I’ve been told, and would love a verification, that in China, when someone sneezes, the others in the room bow.
Even the Romans said, Absit omen! (which I believe meant something like, God forbid this from being an omen), after someone sneezed.
It’s believed that the custom of saying “God bless you” comes from the time of a plague, when sneezing was a symptom that you were ill with the sickness.
In some cultures sneezing has been seen as a sign that evil is around. In others, it’s been believed that part of the soul can be expelled by a sneeze.
Of course, with all these beliefs about what happens when you sneeze, some proverbs have arisen about the subject. In Japan, according to Devon, there’s one that has to do with how many times you sneeze…
It says if you sneeze once, it means someone is praising you;
If you sneeze twice, it means someone is criticizing you/saying bad things about you;
If you sneeze three times, it means you are being scolded;
And if you sneeze four times or more, well, it means you have a cold.In English there’s a saying about the number of times you sneeze and what it means too. It goes…
Once, a wish,
Twice a kiss,
Three times a letter,
Four times something better.Here’s an English proverb about the day you sneeze on, and what that means…
If you sneeze on Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on Tuesday, you kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, your sweetheart tomorrow;
Sneeze on a Sunday, your safety seek,
The devil will have you the whole of the week.Here’s a last proverb that tells about what it means if you sneeze at different times of day…
Sneeze before you eat,
See your sweetheart before you sleep.
Sneeze between twelve and one,
Sure sign somebody’ll come.
Sneeze between one and two,
Come to see you.
Sneeze between two and three,
Come to see me.
Sneeze between three and four,
Somebody’s at the door.Please comment below let us know about sneezing in your culture… it’d be interesting to know what sound a person makes when they sneeze, what you say afterwards and anything else you’d like to share about sneezing.
May you all sneeze the right number of times, at the right time, and on the right day! Or perhaps even better, may you not sneeze at all!
Lisa
Question regarding a Saying about the First of May
Monday, May 1st, 2006I received this email today…
Do you know the words to:
First of May is Petticoat Day;
Second of May is shoelace Day;What comes next?
Thank You,
Rose Ann
If anyone knows the words to this saying, please comment below.
Thanks!
-Lisa
April Proverbs from Around the World
Thursday, April 13th, 2006It’s interesting to compare proverbs from different countries. Here are some I found from around the world. If you know of any others, you’re welcome to add them in the comments below.
English Proverbs about April
-April showers bring May flowers.
-Sweet April showers, do spring May flowers.
-April comes in with his hack and his bill, And sets a flower on every hill.
-April cold and wet fills barn and barrel.
-Betwixt April and May if there be rain, ‘Tis worth more than oxen and wain.
(A wain is a large open farm wagon.)
-April and May are the key of all the year.
-After a wet April, a dry June.
-Moist April, clear June.
-Fogs in April, floods in June.
-April weather, Rain and sunshine, both together.
-A cold April, much bread, and little wine.
-An April flood carries away the frog and her brood.
-April wears a white hat.French Proverbs about April with their English translations
-En avril, ne te découvre pas d’un fil.
(Don’t put away your winter clothes, it might still get cold.)-Avril et mai, Sont la clé de l’année.
(April and May are the key to the year.)-D’avril les ondées, Font les fleurs de Mai.
(April Showers, Make May flowers.)-Avril fait la fleur, Mai en a les honneurs.
(April makes the flowers, May has the honors.)-Le vin d’avril est un vin de Dieu,
Le vin de mai est un vin de laquais.(The wine of April is the wine of God
The wine of May is the wine of flunkeys.)-Mars venteux et avril pluvieux,
Font mai gai et gracieux.(Windy March, Rainy April,
Make a May that’s gracious and gay.)Spanish Proverbs about April
-En abril, aguas mil.
(literally… In April, thousands of waters. Meaning… April is a rainy month.)-Abril lluvioso hace a mayo hermoso.
(A rainy April makes a pretty May.)German Proverb about April
-April macht was er will.
(April does what it wants.)Italian Proverb about April
Aprile, ogni goccia un barile.
(literally… April, every drop, a barrel. Meaning… April, every raindrop, a barrel of wine.)***
I noticed that many of these proverbs are related to April weather.
Whatever the weather is where you live this month, I hope your April is fine!
Lisa
Many thanks to Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français for sending me some of these proverbs, and for translating some of them too!
Nursery Rhymes and Proverbs about March
Friday, March 17th, 2006March brings breezes loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.March comes in like a lion
And goes out like a lamb.Sometimes it’s reversed…
March comes in like a lamb
And goes out like a lion.A March sun sticks
Like a lock of wool.There’s an old belief that if March is dry and dusty, there will be a better crop…
A bushel of March dust is worth a King’s ransom.
A fair March is worth a king’s ransom.
A dry March and a wet May
Fill barns and bays with corn and hay.A peck of March dust and a shower in May
Makes the corn green and the fields gay.March water is worse
Than a stain in cloath*.*That seems to be an obsolete spelling of cloth.
Here are happy ones to consider when you’re stuck inside because of the coming Spring rain…
March winds and April showers
Bring forth May flowers.And…
In beginning or in end
March its gifts will send.Be joyful, it’s almost Spring!
Lisa
Pancake Day – Some Songs, Rhymes and Proverbs
Friday, February 24th, 2006Last week I talked about the celebrations that take place before the fasting for Lent, which include Carnival and Mardi Gras.
One fun occasion is Pancake Day in Great Britain, which takes place on Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday is the day before the start of Lent. The word “Shrove” comes from “shriving”, which means confessing your sins. Originally, people went to church on this day to confess their sins before Lent. The church bell would ring as a call for people to go shriving.
The idea of Pancake Day came next, its purpose was to use up the milk and eggs in the house before Lent, during which time they weren’t supposed to be eaten.
In one town in Britain called Olney, Pancake Races began.
The legend is that these races started back in 1445. A woman was making pancakes and she heard the bell to go to church to shrive. She was in such a rush that she forgot to put down her frying pan. She ran all the way to church with it! Now women of Olney follow the tradition that began way back then, and they race with a frying pan with a pancake in it. One rule is that they have to flip the pancake at least three times during the race.
Today in some communities the church bells ring on Shrove Tuesday, not to remind the people to go to church to confess, rather, to remind them to make pancakes!
Pancake Day is also celebrated in the US, in the town of Liberal, Kansas. Liberal was always known for being “flat as a pancake”. I suppose it was that reputation that inspired the town to contact Olney, in England, to suggest a competition. Since then, the two towns have kept track of their respective Pancake Races to see who makes the better time.
These days, the festivities have grown to a three day “Pancake Festival” in Liberal, including pancake eating and flipping competitions and many other activities. (Liberal sounds like a fun place to live. It also hosts the annual “Oz Fest” on October 14 -15, as a tribute to Dorothy and her longing to return to Kansas in The Wizard of Oz.)
Here are some songs for Pancake Day…
Pancake Day is a very happy day,
If we don’t have a holiday we’ll all run away,
Where shall we run, up High Lane,
And here comes the teacher with a great big cane!***
But hark, I hear the pancake bell,
And fritters make a gallant smell.
The cooks are baking, frying, boiling,
Stewing, mincing, cutting, broiling,
Carving, gourmandizing, roasting,
Carbonading*, cracking, slashing, toasting.(*Carbonading is an obsolete word. I gather it meant roasting on a fire or broiling, with the sense of scorching or charbroiling the food.)
***Here are some nursery rhymes for Pancake Day…
Toss the pancakes, toss the pancakes,
Turn the pancakes over!
***
Pancake Day, Pancake Day,
Don’t let the pancakes frizzle away!***
Watch us put them quickly in the pan now,
Toss them up and catch it if you can now.***
Tippety, tippety tin,
Give me a pancake and I will come in.
Tippety, tippety toe,
Give me a pancake and I will go.
***
Nicky, nicky, nan,
Give me a pancake and then I’ll be gone.
But if you give me none,
I’ll throw a great stone
And down your door shall come.
***Here are some proverbs for Shrovetide (the week of merriment before Lent) and Shrove Tuesday…
Fit as a pancake for Shrove Tuesday.
***
If it thunder upon Shrove Tuesday
It fortelleth winde, store of fruit, and plenty.
***
Rejoice Shrovetide today,
For tomorrow you’ll be ashes.(This one is an echo of what the priest says on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, while he makes a cross on the persons forehead in ashes, “Remember man, for dust thou art, and to dust thou shall return.”)
***
So much as the sun shineth on Pancake Tuesday,
The like will shine every day in Lent.
***Happy Pancake Day!
Lisa
UPDATE: Here’s a Pancake Song by Christina Rossetti.
Candlemas and Groundhog Day on February 2nd
Sunday, January 29th, 2006Groundhog Day, the popular American holiday, has it’s roots in the European holiday Candlemas.
Both seem to have developed from an ancient Celtic festival called Imbolc. Imbolc festivities involved lighting fires, in part in honor of Brigid, the Goddess of fertility, love and fire. Imbolc also celebrated the fact that the days would become longer and the sun stronger over the next few months.
Candlemas, Groundhog Day and Imbolc are all celebrated at the mid point between the Winter Solstice and the first day of Spring. They all involve the hope of good weather for the next 6 weeks… the remainder of winter.
I suppose this is why pancakes and crepes are the preferred foods for Candlemas… they’re round and yellow, like the longed for sun.
If you’ve ever wondered why it’s hard to remember how the weather on this day predicts the weather for the rest of the winter, it’s because all of the Candlemas and Groundhog Day sayings are counterintuitive. They say that if the weather is nice on February 2nd the rest of the winter will be colder, more severe. If the weather on the 2nd is crummy, the rest of the winter is supposed to have nice weather.
As for the groundhog, if he sees his shadow, that means it’s a sunny day on February 2nd and the myth is that the rest of the winter will be colder. So we all hope he will not see his shadow and that February 2nd will have miserable weather!
For Christians, Candlemas is the day that candles are blessed in churches. Another symbol of fire! So people put lit candles in their windows in honor of the day.
Lastly, this day is called the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. It was believed that after giving birth women were unclean. They had to be purified 40 days after their child was born. Thus Candlemas is 40 days after Jesus was born, when Mary would have been purified.
Here are some rhymes and proverbs for Candlemas and groundhog day…
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flightIf on Candlemas Day it be shower and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.If Candlemas Day be damp and black,
It will carry cold winter away on its back.If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There’ll be two winters in the year.If the groundhog sees his shadow
We will have six more weeks of Winter.
If he doesn’t see his shadow,
We will have an early Spring.Groundhog Day Half your Hay
(Meaning you’d better have half of your hay left to feed the animals, because you’re only half-way through the winter)
Happy Candlemas and Happy Groundhog Day!
Lisa
________
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