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    Preposterous Proverbs: Why fine words butter no parsnips
    Unavailable
    Preposterous Proverbs: Why fine words butter no parsnips
    Unavailable
    Preposterous Proverbs: Why fine words butter no parsnips
    Ebook176 pages1 hour

    Preposterous Proverbs: Why fine words butter no parsnips

    By Max Cryer

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    From our earliest years we have heard proverbs, and many of them are repeated without much thought. Yes, ‘birds of a feather flock together’ and ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, but these sayings are so familiar that we are scarcely aware they are proverbs. It has been so for thousands of years, in every culture. It is only when someone like Max Cryer takes the time to look at them that we can see how these ‘pearls of wisdom’ have played such a key role in the moral guidance of every society. Sometimes the wisdom is distinctly odd, sometimes it has become outdated, and sometimes it is simply contradictory. After all, do ‘many hands make light work’ or do ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’? You can’t really have it both ways.

    In 'Preposterous Proverbs', Max Cryer looks at a vast array of proverbs from around the world. Proverbs on birth, food, women and love rub shoulders with others on money, animals, sin and death. He has chosen some of the most interesting and perplexing, and with his characteristic wry wit he analyses their meaning and truth. A great book to dip into, 'Preposterous Proverbs' will take you from Greece (‘A thousand men cannot undress a naked man’) and China (‘A dry finger cannot pick up salt’) to Japan (‘Fools and scissors must be carefully handled’) and India (‘A fat spouse is a quilt for the winter’).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherExisle Publishing
    Release dateNov 1, 2011
    ISBN9781927147948
    Unavailable
    Preposterous Proverbs: Why fine words butter no parsnips
    Author

    Max Cryer

    Max Cryer is an established authority on the English language, whose books have been sold around the world. He hosts a weekly radio slot on quirks of the English language.

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