WORKS CITEDThe Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs. OxfordUniversity Press, Ely House, London1970.The World Book Encyclopedia. New York 1999.A Dictionary of American Proverbs, New York OxfordUniversity Press, 1992.Mieder, Wolfgang. Proverbs are never out of season.New York Oxford, 1993.Search results for creative Proverbs. Copyright 2000by Franklin C. Bayer http bemorecreative.com cqproverbs Tanya YevichProfessor PetersonEnglish I17 April 2001Research PaperThe Proverbs Are Children of ExperienceSome scholars and popular writers haveclaimed repeatedly that proverbial language has passed from usage however, it remains an easily proven factthat proverbs are not passe and definitelynot dead. I. IntroductionA. Definition of a proverbB. HistoryC. Who uses proverbsII. Why are proverbs still popularA. Provides wisdom in shortform1. Saying without thinking, shooting without aiming2. It is a hard thing to have a great estate, and not fall inlove with itB. Provides humor throughwords1. Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them2. Not worth a fly3. There s no fool like an old foolC. Helps one learn the language1. Construction thereis , there are 2. Gerund3. Degrees of comparison of adjectivesIII. Conclusion Tatiana Yevich English101 ResearchPaper 17.01 RickPederson TheProverbs Are Children Of Experience.
Itwould appear that nothing could be easier than writing down the definition of aproverb.
Where did a proverb come from? Where can it be used? Proverbs arewidely used in the society on the regular basis.
Some scholars and popularwriters have claimed repeatedly that proverbial language has passed from usage however it remains an easily proven fact that proverbs are not passe and definitely not dead. This form of language helps to express our thoughtsmore exactly and vividly.
Proverbscontain wisdom, humor, and usually fit many purports. TheOxford Dictionary of English Proverbs defines a proverb as a sentence thathas been developed orally and is still used by the people of a region. It hasusually come about from experience, and it is a statement that teaches learningwithin an experience.The World Book Encyclopedia gives a differentexplanation of the word Proverb is a brief saying that presents a truth ofsome bit of useful wisdom.
It is usually based on common sense or practicalexperience. The effect of a proverb is to make the wisdom it tells seem to beself-evident. The same proverb often occurs among several different peoples, True proverbs are sayings that have been passed from generation to generation,primarily by word of mouth.They may also have been put into written form. TheBook of Proverbs In the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is the most notablecollection of such sayings.
They include Hope deferred makes the heart sick. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Pride goeth before destriction, and a haughty spirit before afall. In ancient Israel, children wereeducated primarily at home, and proverbs were used to teach them to becomesuccessful and responsible adults.Proverbs have not lost theirwell-established popularity, and they continue to be ever present, even in amodern technological society like that of the United States of America.
Thishas recently been made abundantly clear by the thousands of proverbs registeredin A Dictionary of American Proverbs New York Oxford UniversityPress, 1992 edited by S.A. Kingsbury, K.B. Harder. Early to bed, and early torise, make a man healthy, wealthy and wise.This is an oldproverb well known in many countries that has not passed from its usage.Proverbs both old and new, continue to serveus well as concise statements of apparent truths.
In everyday life proverbsname social situations, that is, they are used to communicate our general humanconcerns in traditional language. By employing proverbs in our speech we wishto strengthen argument, express certain generalizations, influence ormanipulate other people, rationalize our own shortcomings, question certainbehavior patterns, satirize social ills, and poke fun at ridiculous situations. Saying without thinking is shooting without aiming.There are no limits to the use ofproverbs, and each individual proverb may be used in many ways depending on itscontext.
There are hundreds of proverbs dealing with the body, work, love,friendship, death, weather and more. For example Kiss and be friends. Two heads are better than one. Love is blind. One hand washes other. A good beginning makes a good ending.It is better to do well then to say well.These are the examples of proverbs thatare based on friendship and love. Some folklorists are now arguing that mostweather proverbs are not proverbs at all but rather superstitions couched inproverbial language Mieder, Wolfgagng 12 . Nevertheless, we would still arguethat such texts as Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
Make hay while the sun shines.These are proverbs, especially since they are usually usedin a figurative and not in a literal sense. Medical proverbs are also widelyused by people all over the world.Here are some proverbs that are verypopular An apple a day keeps a doctoraway. A disease known is half cured.
The doctor is often more to be feared than the disease. Health is not valued till sickness comes. Bitter pills may have blessed effects. Proverbs provide humor in a sarcastic way. Depending on the specificproverb a person can identify an action and its consequence.For example Do not do all you can spend not all you have believe not all you hear tell not all you know.This proverb explains that one should usecommon sense as well as sensor ones speech in relationship to otherpeople.
Another example of sarcasticproverbs can be proverb A man can work from sun to sun,but a woman s work is never done.Proverbs and their value systems give ussome basic structure, and if their worldview does not fit a particularsituation, they can be quickly changed into revealing and liberating anti-proverbs.Proverbs are also used as idioms every language has its own. An idiom usuallyconsists of a group of words, which is either meaningless or absurd if thewords are understood to mean what they usually do. Mostly short proverbs can be used asidioms.
For example Die with one s boots on.This proverb idiom means expire whileworking, keep working to the end. I some languages proverbs may occur asclich s or old proverbs. Clich s are trite, worn out expressions.While they are acceptable in conversation, they should be avoided in writing.Here are some examples of such event Off the wall. Means to be notwell reasoned. Sound as a dollar.Meanssensible.
Asmall sentence as proverb also contains grammar rules and tones of vocabularythat is why I would claim that proverbs could help a great deal to learn aforeign language like English and make the process of learning moreinteresting. Proverbs contain such grammar rules as degrees of comparison ofadjectives, gerund construction, construction there is , there are ,formation of noun plurals, formation of present, past and future tenses, antonyms and synonyms, andmost of irregular verbs.
Proverbs help to remember gerundconstruction, which does not occur in any other language but English. Saying without thinking isshooting without aiming. Seeing is believing. Constructions there is , there are are also do not exist in most ofthe languages they are not very hard to remember but it is more interesting tolearn it with the help of the proverbs. For example There is no place like home. There are more ways to thewoods then one. There is no rose without athorn.There is no fool like an oldfool.
Although many proverbs have been forgotten there still some that willforever be used. With a new generation,new technology and new lingo there will be more proverbs to come and more to beforgotten. People will continue to use old and new proverbs, therefore theywill never die. They are an important part of learning and life in general.