A Dictionary of American Proverbs

A Dictionary of American Proverbs PDF

Author: Wolfgang Mieder

Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 1348

ISBN-13: 0195053990

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Americans have a gift for coining proverbs. "A picture is worth a thousand words" was not, as you might imagine, the product of ancient Chinese wisdom -- it was actually minted by advertising executive Fred Barnard in a 1921 advertisement for Printer's Ink magazine. After all, Americans are first and foremost a practical people and proverbs can be loosely defined as pithy statements that are generally accepted as true and useful. The next logical step would be to gather all of this wisdom together for a truly American celebration of shrewd advice.A Dictionary of American Proverbs is the first major collection of proverbs in the English language based on oral sources rather than written ones. Listed alphabetically according to their most significant key word, it features over 15,000 entries including uniquely American proverbs that have never before been recorded, as well as thousands of traditional proverbs that have found their way into American speech from classical, biblical, British, continental European, and American literature. Based on the fieldwork conducted over thirty years by the American Dialect Society, this volume is complete with historical references to the earliest written sources, and supplies variants and recorded geographical distribution after each proverb.Many surprised await the reader in this vast treasure trove of wit and wisdom. Collected here are nuggets of popular wisdom on all aspects of American life: weather, agriculture, travel, money, business, food, neighbors, friends, manners, government, politics, law, health, education, religion, music, song, and dance. And, to further enhance browsing pleasure, the editors have provided a detailed guide to the use of the work. While it's true that many of our best known proverbs have been supplied by the ever-present "Anonymous," many more can be attributed to some very famous Americans, like Ernest Hemingway, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas Alva Edison, Abigail Adams, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to name but a few offered in this fascinating collection.Who wouldn't want to know the origin of "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings?" This uniquely American proverb and many more are gathered together in A Dictionary of American Proverbs. A great resource for students and scholars of literature, psychology, folklore, linguistics, anthropology, and cultural history, this endlessly intriguing volume is also a delightful companion for anyone with an interest in American culture.

Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases

Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases PDF

Author: Bartlett Jere Whiting

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 626

ISBN-13: 9780674219816

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p.B. J. Whiting savors proverbial expressions and has devoted much of his lifetime to studying and collecting them; no one knows more about British and American proverbs than he. The present volume, based upon writings in British North America from the earliest settlements to approximately 1820, complements his and Archer Taylor's Dictionary of American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, 1820-1880. It differs from that work and from other standard collections, however, in that its sources are primarily not "literary" but instead workaday writings - letters, diaries, histories, travel books, political pamphlets, and the like. The authors represent a wide cross-section of the populace, from scholars and statesmen to farmers, shopkeepers, sailors, and hunters. Mr. Whiting has combed all the obvious sources and hundreds of out-of-the-way publications of local journals and historical societies. This body of material, "because it covers territory that has not been extracted and compiled in a scholarly way before, can justly be said to be the most valuable of all those that Whiting has brought together," according to Albert B. Friedman. "What makes the work important is Whiting's authority: a proverb or proverbial phrase is what BJW thinks is a proverb or proverbial phrase. There is no objective operative definition of any value, no divining rod; his tact, 'feel, ' experience, determine what's the real thing and what is spurious."

American Proverbs About Women

American Proverbs About Women PDF

Author: Lois Kerschen

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1998-06-25

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0313091129

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Proverbs supposedly contain the wisdom of the common folk—eternal truths to be passed down through the ages. They are short, often humorous, expressions that teach lessons or give practical advice, and they are perhaps the best indicators of attitudes and beliefs of any form of folklore. Not only reflecting culture, proverbs also perpetuate the cultural dictates of the past, including the fears, prejudices, and misconceptions of their predominately male authors. Because they are generalizations, proverbs sometimes impede accurate observation and analysis and stifle original thought. Like many other traditions and cultural practices, proverbs often promote misleading stereotypes of women. This reference book collects more than 800 American proverbs about women and analyzes their significance. The volume begins with introductory chapters that explore the relationship between proverbs and culture and the image of women presented in proverbs. The chapters that follow are devoted to particular categories, such as wives and 6~rriage, mothers and daughters, women as property, and old women and grandmothers. Each chapter includes a brief introductory overview and a listing of proverbs relating to the topic. The proverbs were gathered through an extensive review of journal articles, proverb dictionaries, and other literature. In addition to true proverbs, the volume includes some phrases, sayings, and proverbial comparisons. Not included are expressions that contain words like mother or daughter but do not really describe women or comment about them. The book then presents a concluding analysis of how American proverbs portray women, an alphabetical index of proverbs, and an extensive bibliography.

Dictionary of Authentic American Proverbs

Dictionary of Authentic American Proverbs PDF

Author: Wolfgang Mieder

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2021-09-17

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1800731329

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Dictionary of Authentic American Proverbs offers a comprehensive reference guide for distinctly American proverbs. Compiled by Wolfgang Mieder, a key figure in the field of proverb studies, this compendium features nearly 1,500 proverbs with American origins, spanning the 17th century to present day, including a scholarly introduction exploring the history of proverbs in America, the structure and variants of these proverbs, known authors and sources, and cultural values expressed in these proverbs. Along with a comprehensive bibliography of proverb collections and interpretive scholarship, this dictionary offers a glimpse into the history of American social and cultural attitudes through uniquely American language.

"Right Makes Might"

Author: Wolfgang Mieder

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2019-05-01

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 0253040361

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In 1860 Abraham Lincoln employed the proverb, Right makes might, (opposite of the more aggressive Might makes right) in his famed Cooper Union address. While Lincoln did not originate the proverb, his use of it in this critical speech indicates that the 14th century phrase had taken on new ethical and democratic connotations in the 19th century. In this collection, famed scholar of proverbs Wolfgang Mieder explores the multifaceted use and function of proverbs through the history of the United States, from their early beginnings up through their use by today's well-known politicians, including Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. Building on previous publications and unpublished research, Mieder explores sociopolitical aspects of the American worldview as expressed through the use of proverbs in politics, women's rights, and the civil rights movement. By looking at the use of proverbial phrases, Mieder demonstrates how one traditional phrase can take on numerous expressive roles over time and how they continue to play a key role in our contemporary moment.

A Dictionary of Anglo-American Proverbs & Proverbial Phrases, Found in Literary Sources of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

A Dictionary of Anglo-American Proverbs & Proverbial Phrases, Found in Literary Sources of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries PDF

Author: George B. Bryan

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 890

ISBN-13: 9780820479477

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A Dictionary of Anglo-American Proverbs & Proverbial Phrases Found in Literary Sources of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries is a unique collection of proverbial language found in literary contexts. It includes proverbial materials from a multitude of plays, (auto)biographies of well-known actors like Britain's Laurence Olivier, songs by William S. Gilbert or Lorenz Hart, and American crime stories by Leslie Charteris. Other authors represented in the dictionary are Horatio Alger, Margery Allingham, Samuel Beckett, Lewis Carroll, Raymond Chandler, Benjamin Disraeli, Edward Eggleston, Hamlin Garland, Graham Greene, Thomas C. Haliburton, Bret Harte, Aldous Huxley, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, George Orwell, Eden Phillpotts, John B. Priestley, Carl Sandburg, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jesse Stuart, Oscar Wilde, and more. Many lesser-known dramatists, songwriters, and novelists are included as well, making the contextualized texts to a considerable degree representative of the proverbial language of the past two centuries. While the collection contains a proverbial treasure trove for paremiographers and paremiologists alike, it also presents general readers interested in folkloric, linguistic, cultural, and historical phenomena with an accessible and enjoyable selection of proverbs and proverbial phrases.

American Proverbs

American Proverbs PDF

Author: Dizzy Naduka

Publisher:

Published: 2021-03-20

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13:

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American Proverbs From The USA and The Americas.Would you like to know more proverbs to prepare yourself for that occasion when you might need a picturesque or poetic way to say something? Most of us are often in this type of situation. It would help if you expressed yourself in an intellectually sound way but would rather say it indirectly but still convey the right information and emotion. One of the best ways to do that is by the use of Proverbs and wise sayings. From a long time ago, humanity has used proverbs as a powerful communications tool to convey all kinds of information. This is true for happiness, situations of celebrations, caution, anger, love, hate, learning, or teaching. Although these quotes and wise sayings are ubiquitous worldwide, you will find that each group tends to have preferences for certain types of expressions. This peculiarity could be how the quotes are said, the settings that invoke them, the mood that inspires or trigger them, or any other event that makes them express their common proverbs. Proverbs are essential in an average man or woman's daily lives in this modern age where most of us are busy with the stresses of the computer and information age that we hardly have time to smell the coffee. Proverbs are usually short, simple, and generally easy to understand and a compelling way to say something shortly and concisely. These small packets of gold are typically scattered all around and often thrown around by people on different occasions, but generally difficult to find all collected in a list for people to read and use for the right events as this book has done. I decided to write this book to help you overcome the problems I often have when expressing myself using a proverb or powerful quote. By having thousands of sayings at your fingertips, as they have laid out in this book, you will quickly become used to citing sayings and quotes that will convey your intellectual and poetic capabilities to your family, friends, colleagues, and others. American Proverbs is a book like no other in the types of information that it contains. It contains mostly the sayings that are commonly used in America and other American cultures around the world. Even though it's translated into the English language here, they still carry the original American humor in them. As you will find in the other titles in this series, Proverbs of the world, the same common principles run through them. There are many different types of sayings and quotes in this book, including the following: v General Proverbsv Nature Proverbsv Earth Related Proverbsv Christian Proverbsv Motivational Proverbs Inspirational Proverbs Functional Proverbsv People Proverbsv Animal Proverbsv Bird Proverbsv River Proverbsv Travel Proverbs I firmly believe that you will find much fun, education, religion, nature, inspiration, etc., in these books of proverbs. As is stated by a common proverb, "The taste Of The Pudding, Is In The Eating." This proverb applies directly to this book and the other ones in this series. Hence, I urge you to make my day and yours by adding this book to your shopping cart and then ENJOY. Have a good day.

Proverbs Are The Best Policy

Proverbs Are The Best Policy PDF

Author: Wolfgang Mieder

Publisher:

Published: 2005-10-30

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13:

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Widely considered the world's greatest living proverb scholar and known as the author of, among numerous other books, the Encyclopedia of World Proverbs and the coeditor of A Dictionary of American Proverbs, Wolfgang Mieder has brought particular attention and understanding to the uses of proverbs in politics. In this new collection of eight essays, he considers the role of proverbial speech in the American political scene from the Revolutionary War to the present. Mieder introduces this survey with an examination of what characterizes American proverbs, what are their origins, and how they have spread internationally with the expansion of America's political role. He then turns to the origins and varied historical uses of what has become the defining proverb of American democracy, ""government of the people, by the people, for the people."" The employment of proverbs had no brighter exponent among the nation's founding generation than Abigail Adams, who was not without influence despite the exclusion from political office of women. As they have for so much, her abundant letters provide rich sources for politically charged proverbs. Though it is especially associated with Abraham Lincoln, ""a house divided against itself cannot stand"" is a biblical proverb that has proven of wide value as a political expression. Frederick Douglass's proverbial prowess paralleled that of his contemporary Lincoln, and he employed it effectively in his battle for civil rights. Given proverbs' enduring role in American politics, it is an interesting exercise to compare how United States presidents have employed them in their inaugural addresses, which have produced such gems as John F. Kennedy's ""ask not"" dictum. The bonds Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill formed through the World War II alliance were expressed in the proverbial language that frequently enlivened their correspondence. Having addressed these aspects of the proverb in American politics, Mieder winds up by considering the sociopolitical significance of the ambiguous proverb ""good fences make good neighbors.""

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