Proverbs

Language, as the main means of communication, is full of fascination; it enables us to convey our ideas and messages using different methods, in a way that we can speak either literally or figuratively or even use a combination of the two. Proverbs are the ones that normally have figurative meanings.

Proverb is actually “a short well-known statement that gives advice or expresses something that is generally true.” as defined by Longman contemporary dictionary; in other words, they are some concise but at the same time very witty statements. All languages are full of some nice proverbs or sayings and each of us knows at least some of the most common ones, and for sure almost many of us have heard the sayings “Time is Money” , “Better late than never” or “Never count a gift horse in the mouth”.

Each proverb has a history behind it, and you may learn a saying better when you know its origin and background; also, when you have its history, you know when and how to use it to avoid misunderstandings and to convey the message you are bound to send. Also, it helps us to remember the sayings correctly, as normally they are used with the fixed unchangeable patterns/words. Sometimes half of a proverb is said, since the speaker is sure that the listeners know the complete saying.

Proverbs mostly originate from old oral traditions, literature, bible, and very interestingly and coincidently, most cultures, even very different nations have similar and sometimes the exact version of the same saying; consider the proverb “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” You have definitely heard it so often in the movies, or read in the books or probably you might have used it.

There are a lot of common and useful sayings used in daily spoken languages, which are easy to remember and are very handy when you need to be economic with words; these pithy and succinct sentences are most of the time funny and help you teach the lesson better; can you advise some top common proverbs used in your culture or the one that you use a lot?

Proverbs

Robi B