“RACIAL APHORISMS”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1938, Page 8

“RACIAL APHORISMS”

LITTLE KNOWN PROVERBS. A proverb has been defined as “a racial aphorism which has been, or still is, in common use, conveying advice or counsel, invariably camouflaged figuratively, disguised in metaphor or allegory." Unfortunately many beautiful and clever proverbs are unknown to English speaking people because they are the product of foreign countries. There are, for instance, at least 225,000 German sayings and 1,000,000 Finnish and proverbs were in general use in Egypt as far back as 3700 B.C. From Rome comes the saying, “After three days, a woman, a guest, and the rain become tiresome,” and this is parallel to the piece of Urdu wisdom, “One day a guest, two days a guest, the third day a nuisance.” Other cynicisms from Italy include: “He who has had a wife deserves a crown of patience, but he who has had two deserves a straitjacket.” It is not only the Italians who are hard on women, as can be seen from the two English proverbs: “Honest men marry; wise men not at all’; and, “He that marries a widow with three children marries four thieves.” Scotland declares that “When children are young they make their parents’ heads ache; when they are old they make their hearts ache”; but the Welsh express themselves thus: “A child in the house is a hundred enjoyments.” Chinese proverbs almost invariably have a philosophical flavour, such as: “When the bitters of adversity are exhausted, then comes the sweets of happiness”; and “Luck and glass soon break.” In regard to luck, Germany suggests that “Good luck makes one happy, bad luck makes one great”; and, “There is no one luckier than he who thinks himself so.” India offers several fragments of wisdom on the subject of love: “Love, like dust, must show itself”; “Love can’t be hid by hiding”; “Eyes meet eyes, and love slips out between”; and, “Love, musk, and a cough cannot be suppressed or concealed.”