These three are folklore things:

If your nose itches - You will have unexpected company.
If your right palm itches - You will meet a stranger.
If your left palm itches - You will receive unexpected money.

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*BC pictures being naked in front of boiling broth*

If some one is "all thumbs", or they "have two left feet" it means they are clumsy. I suppose because without their correct partner, thumbs and a foot aren't good for very much.

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and this one reminds me of "to get naked like before the broth" that means to get really naked (whatever it means, lol). the adage is widely used here, but no-one seems to know its origins...

Gealach, that reminds me of one we have here, which is: "Too many cooks spoil the broth." .

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This is a good one. " He who sits on tack is better off.

"Where six cooks are, there's nothing to eat" - this is what we say in my country to describe a situation, when too many 'specialists' get down to one task and can't came up with anything good. Generally, we use this proverb when talking politics

Yes, but I know it as "No use crying over spilled milk". It is the same though, meaning once it is gone, being sad doesn't help.

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease." It means that those who complain, or speak up for themselves get what they want or need. If you don't ask for help, you won't get it.

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How about this one...
"You shouldn't cry over spilt milk".. I think this one exists in several countries?

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"Excuse me, but can I be you for a while? My dog won't bite if you sit real still"

I like that one! I've never heard it before.

When the outcome is the same no matter which thing you choose, people sometimes say "Six of one and a half dozen of the other."

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We have that same expression here in Denmark - in fact, I use it a lot
Here's another one: "I would like to add one last curl to the tail" (something like that; it's kind of hard to translate). One of my teachers says this all the time. It means that she wants to add some extra bonus info before moving on to another topic...
Love, AH

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"Excuse me, but can I be you for a while? My dog won't bite if you sit real still"

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." is something that is said when people are comparing a child to their parent, and saying they are similar. It usually gets used when it is something unkind, but not always.

"She was arrested last week for being in a bar fight."
"Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"
"No it doesn't. She's just like her father."
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The ones for today are different versions of favor and ill. My extended family is from this area of the country and I've lived here a few years now, but these two always seemed odd to me.

"She favors her father."
Instead of meaning she dotes on him, around here it means she looks like him.

"He was making me so ill.
Instead of meaning sick it means angry.

I think they are both probably reach back into older expressions. Such as using ill in the way people used to say they were in an "ill humor" or to be "ill tempered"; or saying "favor" as if her features were favoring her father.

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To be "busy as a bee" means that you are trying really hard to get a lot of things done; like the way bees are rushing to every flower.

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To say you "need 'X' like a hole in the head" means that whatever 'X' is, would do you more harm than good. So if I said "I need more coffee like I need a hole in the head." I have probably already had far more coffee than is good for me.

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"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar." It means if you want something to go your way, you are better off offering kindness than being bitter or angry.

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Lol... the story about DUCKs is just too funny!

AH, for me this French proverb can be true, though I'd rather believe exactly the opposite "stara miłość nie rdzewieje", which means: "the old love never rusts" (this is one of the most popular proverbs in my country)

"Like a moth to a flame." - It means that some people are always drawn to things and can't resist, even when they know it will hurt them in the end.

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Here's a Direct Quote From Jesus Christ in the New Testament:

"A Dog Always Returns To It's Vomit."

In this case, Jesus was simply saying that those who are prone to do something, no matter how hard they try to change, always end up reverting right back to their old ways.

:)

Steve B.

almost you may not always turn back, but surely they are the hardest love to forget.
And the base line for each incarnation of the definition you carry with you now.
Kind of fun sometimes to look back and see how we;ve redefined love over the years.

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if you know me so well tell me which hand I use

I know one in french: 'On revient toujours à ses premiers amours' (something like that). It means 'You always turn back to your first loves'... I don't know if you think that's true? I don't

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"Excuse me, but can I be you for a while? My dog won't bite if you sit real still"

"Don't borrow trouble." or "Don't court trouble." They both mean that life is hard enough without trying to find problems or trouble when you don't have any. Trouble will find you, there is no need to look for it.

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Excellent quote - and good food for thought - Fairfireflies. I especially enjoyed the line " I love the vast surface of silence..." Reading that took my mind back to a song by Simon and Garfunkel, entitled "Sounds Of Silence" Even the opening lines of that song are extraordinary: "Hello Darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again."

As for an old adage, how about: "A coward dies a thousand deaths; a brave man, only once."

:)

Steve B.

cant say I have anythign that local explicit. Nothing is screaming Flirida here I am... LOL
but this is something that caught my eye during my research not to long ago, and its kind of stuck with me over the last few weeks.
Danish composer Carl Nielsen, is quoted as saying, music has a voice, and it says, “I live tenfold more intensely than any living thing, and die a thousand times deeper. I love the vast surface of silence; it is my chief delight to break it.”

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if you know me so well tell me which hand I use

One about being prepared is: "To be forewarned, is to be forearmed.". It means that if you are aware of what is coming, you can be ready for it and therefore "armed" against it.

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This one is less an expression, and more of a weird language thing. The word "duck" in English is spelled and pronounced the same way to indicate either the water bird, or to suddenly lower your head. This came up because when I spend time with my Dad, (a very outdoors kind of guy), we often go on nature walks or hikes. And there has been more than one occasion when I was walking behind him and he said "duck" and I guessed the wrong one. (An unintentional slap to the nose by a small tree limb when looking for a bird overhead can be quite a shock )

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To be "Jumping at shadows" means that you are easily frightened or nervous. I guess because a shadow has no substance.

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oh I just love this thread! all these proverbs are so great, and I don't know almost any of them. as for the 'frying pan'... in Polish, to describe the situation like this, you'd say: "z deszczu pod rynnę", which more less means "out of the rain, and below a gutter ". here was the fire and here's the water - exactly the opposite

Okay, I know I just went, but another one popped in my head and I wanted to post it. It is: "Out of the frying pan, and into the fire." It means that the person moved from one bad situation and unexpectedly into a worse one. So if someone made a mistake, and then trying to correct it made it even bigger, it would be said, "She jumped out of the frying pan, and into the fire.".

"...I'm just having thoughts of Marianne..."
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An odd one that I have no idea why it means what it does is: "To be whistling in the dark". It means to be confident that something good will happen when it is not at all likely

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Here's one: 'The straw that broke the camel's back'.
Meaning that sometimes, when you've suffered a lot of stress or hurt or whatever, sometimes the littlest thing after all those bad things will be enough to bring everything tumbling down.

It's okay Anette. It was still a different branch from the same tree, and seeing the little differences is part of what makes this fun.

One that I love is: "To be grasping at straws.". When a person is in a bad situation and nothing they try seems to help, they are grasping at straws. It means that everything seems to be unravelling, or that the things they try to cling to aren't strong enough to hold them.

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"Aftenrød gjør dagen sød" - "evening red makes the day sweet", and the opposite, "morgenrød gjør dagen blød" - "morning red makes the day wet". These sayings are so old they're written in Danish(can't be translated either), which was the official Norwegian language during the occupation. As an indirect result we now have two official written languages cos they couldn't deciede what language to have after the liberation. Anyway, I digress....
Spring this year is unusually dry, which normally turns into massive rainfalls all summer starting May 16. Why May 16, you ask? May 17 is the constitutional day, our 4th of July, and if the spring is dry it always starts raining the day before and keeps going all summer. Lord knows why, but it's been that way for as long as I can remember....

Anette

Edit: Note to self, must read replies before making a new reply...... I see now several of you have posted the same verses. *slaps forehead* lol

BeeKeeper72's reference to a (Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush); conjures up another thought. Since Bill Clinton's legacy is: BETWEEN THE BUSHES , (I.e., Bush-41 and Bush-43 - although given the scandals of that time, once could also easily come up with another more nefarious meaning); I would therefore add: "A Clinton In The House Is Worth Two In the Bush"

I WOULD ALSO OFFER TWO CONTRADICTORY PROVERBS:

1. Look Before You Leap.

2. He Who Hesitates Is Lost.

:)

Steve B.

I agree, it is interesting how they have little nuances in different places. For example I think the sailor verses shepherd thing might be in part because Australia is world famous for Merino sheep's wool. So you guys have a lot of sheep, and where there are sheep, there are shepherds. Although you guys are also a huge island, and islands have sailors too, so I might just be guessing wrong.

An expression about someone who is not too smart is: "He's about as sharp as a bowling ball.". Sharp being a metaphor for intelligence - to be sharp is to have quick mind. So if they are as sharp as something with no edges or point (the ball), they are pretty stupid.

The opposite is that if someone is very smart they are "sharp as a tack". Again sharp meaning that they are quick to think or learn and are focused.

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There's a variation on that one too BC - it's 'Between you, me and the front gate'. I think it means that sometimes you tell someone a secret at the end of a meeting ie. as you're standing at the front gate.
Funnr how there are little regional differences in these sayings!

An expression about telling a secret is: "Between you, me, and the hole in the wall, ____."
I guess it comes from the idea that through the invisible barriers we have around ourselves, we make little openings to tell things to people we trust.

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TBK we have a similar one here. Except it goes like this, 'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning'. I suppose the difference just depends on whether you grew up near the sea or inland!

The version of "small pots..." that I know is "Little pitchers have big ears." .

A funny one I know that has to do with the weather is "Colder than a witch's tit". I guess it is supposed to indicate that the (evil kind of) witch can't nurture anything with her milk, and the air is similarly cold and cruel.

Personally I think they just didn't know the right witch.

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Oh, my what fun! I was raised on adages and old wives tales. One of my favorites has to do with forecasting weather at sea by the sun.... "Red skies at morning, sailor take warning - red skies at night, sailors' delight." Another favorite, for odd reasons that I won't bother to explain, is "A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush." I couldn't give literal translations right now if I wanted to, i am so tired... But thanks for a fun topic!!
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"Chin up put on a pair of these roseys
In no time you will feel almost fine,
Almost rosey."
TBK72 (~h.)

We have it too in Denmark!! Here, the newspapers usually make jokes... The newspapers in France and in other countries do the same thing. Like yesterday, a French newspaper wrote that the government had changed the age when you can get in prison from 15 to 3 years ... That means that babies could get in prison I found this "April fool" kind of funny
Love, AH

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"Excuse me, but can I be you for a while? My dog won't bite if you sit real still"