The nails grow at sight of the barber! (Bengalese). As if one, seeing a barber pass, suddenly thinks of his nails which need attention and, stopping him, insists on immediate service regardless of the barber's other engagements.

The saying is sarcastically applied to people who impatiently demand attention, no matter how much they inconvenience others.

The science of the camel is selling of silk; verily it suits his hand and foot. (Osmanli).

A scoff at the attempt of a clumsy person to perform a task that requires skill.

The snake is not poisonous, it only hisses. (Assamese). The fellow is not dangerous, he only boasts.

The son of a tailor; he will sew as long as he lives. (Behar). He has low-class habits and will never rise above them.

Think of fine rice in a coarse and torn bag! (Bengalese). Used in sarcasm when a mean man is extolled for the exercise of virtue or praised for some small service.

This is the right thing, and the other is the wick of the candle. (Spanish).

Applied to a blunderer as a taunt when he mistakes one thing for another.

Unable to fly, in vain the bird flaps its wings. (Bengalese). Used in derision when anyone attempts to do that which is beyond his strength.

We know what flower it is, there is no need of a declaration. (Osmanli).

We know the man's character, there is no need of your telling us about him.

Ye're the wit o' the townhead, that called the haddock's head a thing. (Scotch).

A sneer at one who is talking foolishly.

You are always best when asleep. (English).

You are not I and I am no cur. (Gaelic).

You are so cunning that you know not what weather it is when it rains. (English).

You were not within when (common) sense was distributed. (Gaelic).

You will have in store whatever you have not eaten. (Persian).

A phrase frequently quoted to misers in olden times, but sometimes used seriously in advising spendthrifts to cultivate habits of thrift and economy.

21

WHIMSICAL PROVERBS

INCLUDING TRICKS, CATCHES, PUNS, RIDDLES, ALLITERATIVE PHRASES, AND EXPRESSIONS THAT PLAY ON WORDS

A crow fought with a crow, a crow conquered a crow. (Yoruba-West African).

"The Yorubas amuse themselves by repeating as many times as possible, without taking breath, sentences such as the foregoing, containing a recurrence of similar sounds-a good gymnastic for the tongue. At the end of each repetition of the sentence a bystander cries 'one,' 'two,' etc., and he who repeats the sentence oftenest without a falter is victor."-Richard F. Burton. This phrase is suggestive of the three old English charms for the hiccough, which were to be repeated three times in one breath for a complete

cure:

"When a twister twisting would twist him a twist,
For twisting a twist three twists he will twist;
But if one of the twists untwists from the twist,
The twist untwisting untwists the twist."
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper
picked?"

"Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round,

A round roll Robert Rowley rolled round;
Where rolled the round roll Robert Rowley rolled
round?"

As fit as a fritter for a friar's mouth. (English).

A flea, a fly, and a flitch of bacon. (English).

Humorously declared to be a Yorkshireman's

arms, because a Yorkshireman will suck anyone's blood like a flea, drink out of anyone's cup like a fly, and is good for nothing till he's hung, like a flitch of bacon.

As pert as a pearmonger. (English).

A mere alliteration without any special significance. "As bold as brass," "As brown as a berry." "As busy as Batty." "As cold as a cucumber." "As cunning as a crowder"-a fiddler. "As drunk as a drum." 'As dull as a Dutchman." "As fine as a fiddle." "As hard as a horn."

"As kind as a kite."

"As thick as thieves."

"As true as a turtle." "As weak as water."

(English).

A wooden horse and cloth saddle, one was invited and three went.

(Hindustani).

This is a kind of conundrum: Two men carrying a
Dolee with one person within.

By Tree, Pol, and Pen, you shall know the Cornish men. (English).

John Ray explains the meaning of this old saying as follows:

"These three names are the dictionary of such surnames as are originally Cornish, and though nouns in sense, I may fitly term them prepositions. Tree signifieth town-hence Tre-fry, Tre-lawney, Tree-vanion, etc.; Pol signifieth a head-hence Pol-wheel; and Pen signifieth a top —hence Pen-tire, Pen-rose, Pen-kevil, etc." Francis Grose informs us in his Provincial Glossary that some people add a fourth ambiguous word, making the proverb read: "By Tree, Pol, Pen, and Car, you shall know the Cornish men," Car signifying a rock, hence a Car-mine, Car-zeu, etc.

Christmas today and May-day tomorrow. (Gaelic).

"This is the result of an ingenious calculation showing that if Christmas day falls on Monday Mayday will be Tuesday. It is generally but not absolutely correct."-Alexander Nicolson.

Dark and black he goes to the sky, and then falls back, after giving a cry. (Mexican).

Signifying a rocket.

Five seize, twice sixteen tear, all the rest the flavour share. (Bengalese).

The five fingers grasp the food, twice sixteen teeth divide and masticate it, and the tongue tastes it -while the whole body is refreshed and strengthened by it.

The proverb is frequently used in referring to different members of a household-each responsible for his own work, yet each dependent on all the others.

Five score of men, money, and pins; six score of all other things. (English).

Sometimes rendered: "Five score's a hundred of men, money, and pins; six score's a hundred of all other things.'

"The people of Norway and Iceland, according to the Thesaurus of Hickes, had a method of computation special to themselves, which consisted in the addition of the words tolfraedr, tolfraed, or tolfraet (whence our 'twelve'), which made ten signify twelve, a hundred equivalent to a hundred and twenty, a thousand represent a thousand and two hundred, and so on in proportion. This arose from the circumstance of these two nations having two decades or tens; a lesser, common to other nations, consisting of ten units, and a greater, comprising twelve (tolf) units. Thus the addition of the word tolfraedr or tolfraer converted the hundred into not ten times ten but ten times twelve-that is a hundred and twenty. This tolfraedic mode of reckoning by the greater decades, maintains Hickes, is still retained by us in reckoning certain articles by the number twelve, which the Swedes call dusin, the French douzaine, and ourselves a dozen; and in mercantile circles, he adds, as to the number, weight, and measure of several things, our hundred represents the greater tolfraedic hundred which is composed of ten times twelve. Thence, doubtless, was derived the current mode of reckon