Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h74MlO711162; Mon, 4 Aug 2003 18:47:24 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 18:47:24 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <20030804224207.36934.qmail@web40309.mail.yahoo.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Jillian Stanley <zazee27@yahoo.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9255] Re: idioms X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Status: O Content-Length: 2411 Lines: 80 Very interesting research about the source of the "rolling stone" proverb! Books of quotations, as well as the Oxford English Dictionary, often seek to find the earliest extant written instance of a word (or in this case, a proverb). We cannot necessarily assume that the author quoted *invented* the word or phrase in question. In this case, it may be that Thomas Tusser endeavored to put popular sayings into poetic form. (You didn't give a date, but he must have lived 300-plus years ago.) Sometimes the verse form "sticks." For example, we still say, "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," as Benjamin Franklin wrote over two centuries ago. But more often, these authors of clever "quips" (as we might call them now) are forgotten. Who nowadays has heard of Thomas Tusser? Sometimes the author is anonymous, as in the nursery rhyme that begins, "If wishes were turnips, beggars would ride." Who knows whether the saying came first, and the rest of the poem came later, or whether an anonymous writer created the entire idea? (I suspect the former is the truth.) P.S. For those of you (for shame!) without a copy of The Real Mother Goose handy, here is the verse to which I refer: "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride, If watches were turnips, I'd wear one by my side; And if Ifs and Ands were pots and pans, There'd be no work for tinkers." --- HthKar@aol.com wrote: > I have a knack of getting quotations wrong, > especially classical ones involving obscure clerics, > but I think that the rolling stone one came from the > same pen (quill/) that wrote, for example, > > God sends meat but the devil sends cooks (it should > be cooking, yuk) > > It is an ill wind turns none to good > > For Christmas comes but once a year > > a pig in a poke (???) > > Some respite to husbands the weather may send, But > housewives' affairs have never an end > (interesting...) > > My book of quotes says that a character called > Thomas Tusser wrote it, and that it goes 'The stone > that is rolling can gather no moss;/ For master and > servant oft changing is loss (Jb. 'Housewifely > Admonitions') > > I await the email explaining that once again my > quotation book is wrong. > > Karen > > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
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