Thursday, April 28, 2005
HIELAN MENAGERIE
20 unusual Gaelic proverbs (translated into English) about creatures:
1 It is not easy to put trews on a cat.
2 Better a lobster than no husband.
3 On fair St Bride's day the cats will bring home the brush-wood.
4 A dog is bold on his own dunghill.
5 The leech is swimming; warm showers will come ere evening.
6 The crow likes her greedy blue chick.
7 The raven that rises early gets the eye of the beast in the bog.
8 Blood is noticeable on a white dog.
9 'There's meat and music here', as the fox said when he ran away with the bagpipe.
10 The duck's desire is the water where she's not.
11 The three prettiest dead: a little child, a salmon, and a black-cock.
12 It's no wonder that the herring vessel smells of herring.
13 The sleep of the flea on the gridiron to you!
14 The badger is the first to smell himself.
15 The fat sow is ill-fed on the primroses of the wood.
16 Play with a puppy, it ends in a howl!
17 The raven won't give the eye to his own chicken.
18 Pretty is the mouse in the corn-plot.
19 The three that won't bear caressing, an old woman, a hen, and a sheep.
20 There are many ways of killing a dog, without choking him with butter.
Source: Gaelic Proverbs (ed Nicolson 1882) – handwriting in this book suggests its history: acquired for the manse library at Ardernaig by John McCallum in 1890; bequeathed by George Milne of Craigellie to Aberdeen University in 1954; bought in Charing Cross Road in 2004 by Roddy Lumsden with the intention of cherry-picking from it for an internet trivia site. Tempus edax rerum...
via Vitamin Q
20 unusual Gaelic proverbs (translated into English) about creatures:
1 It is not easy to put trews on a cat.
2 Better a lobster than no husband.
3 On fair St Bride's day the cats will bring home the brush-wood.
4 A dog is bold on his own dunghill.
5 The leech is swimming; warm showers will come ere evening.
6 The crow likes her greedy blue chick.
7 The raven that rises early gets the eye of the beast in the bog.
8 Blood is noticeable on a white dog.
9 'There's meat and music here', as the fox said when he ran away with the bagpipe.
10 The duck's desire is the water where she's not.
11 The three prettiest dead: a little child, a salmon, and a black-cock.
12 It's no wonder that the herring vessel smells of herring.
13 The sleep of the flea on the gridiron to you!
14 The badger is the first to smell himself.
15 The fat sow is ill-fed on the primroses of the wood.
16 Play with a puppy, it ends in a howl!
17 The raven won't give the eye to his own chicken.
18 Pretty is the mouse in the corn-plot.
19 The three that won't bear caressing, an old woman, a hen, and a sheep.
20 There are many ways of killing a dog, without choking him with butter.
Source: Gaelic Proverbs (ed Nicolson 1882) – handwriting in this book suggests its history: acquired for the manse library at Ardernaig by John McCallum in 1890; bequeathed by George Milne of Craigellie to Aberdeen University in 1954; bought in Charing Cross Road in 2004 by Roddy Lumsden with the intention of cherry-picking from it for an internet trivia site. Tempus edax rerum...
via Vitamin Q
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
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