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Adage
A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is a type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. Collectively, they form a folklore genre, genre of folklore. Some proverbs exist in more than one language because people borrow them from languages and cultures with which they are in contact. In the West, the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs. Not all Biblical proverbs, however, were distributed to the same extent: one scholar has gathered evidence to show th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist, Menippean satire, satirist, and philosopher. Through his Works of Erasmus, works, he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the Northern Renaissance and one of the major figures of Dutch and Western culture. Erasmus was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a spontaneous, copious and natural Latin style. As a Catholic priest developing Philology, humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared pioneering new Vulgate, Latin and Biblical Greek, Greek scholarly editions of the Novum Instrumentum omne, New Testament and of the Church Fathers, with annotations and commentary that were immediately and vitally influential in both the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation. He also wrote ''De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saying
A saying is any concise expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. A saying often shows a wisdom or cultural standard, having different meanings than just the words themselves. Sayings are categorized as follows: * Aphorism: a general, observational truth; "a pithy expression of wisdom or truth". ** Proverb, adage or saw: a widely known or popular aphorism that has gained credibility by long use or tradition. ** Apothegm/Apophthegm: "an edgy, more cynical aphorism; such as, 'Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.'" * Axiom: a proposition that commends itself to general acceptance; a well-established or universally conceded principle; a maxim, rule, or law.''Oxford English Dictionary'' Online, accessed 2012-04-28 * Cliché or bromide: an unoriginal and overused saying. ** Platitude: a cliché that is unsuccessfully presented as though it were meaningful, original, or effective. * Epigram: a cle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edo Language
Edo (; English: , West African English: Help:IPA, /ˈedo/), also known as Bini, is the language spoken by the Edo people in Edo State, Nigeria. It was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo for thousands of years. It is the majority language spoken in Edo State, particularly in Benin City, and the surrounding local governments and senatorial districts in the Southern parts of the State. Distribution Most of the Edo language-speakers live in the Southern parts of Edo State, Nigeria. The current state: Edo State derives its name from the Edo speaking people of the state. A smaller number of Edo speakers are also found in Delta State and Ondo State and in other parts of Nigeria. Edo is an Edoid language. These languages are also spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Phonology Vowels There are seven vowels, , all of which may be long or nasal, and three tones. Consonants Edo has a rather average consonant inventory for an Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
In finance, diversification is the process of allocating capital in a way that reduces the exposure to any one particular asset or risk. A common path towards diversification is to reduce risk or volatility by investing in a variety of assets. If asset prices do not change in perfect synchrony, a diversified portfolio will have less variance than the weighted average variance of its constituent assets, and often less volatility than the least volatile of its constituents. Diversification is one of two general techniques for reducing investment risk. The other is hedging. Examples The simplest example of diversification is provided by the proverb "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". Dropping the basket will break all the eggs. Placing each egg in a different basket is more diversified. There is more risk of losing one egg, but less risk of losing all of them. On the other hand, having a lot of baskets may increase costs. In finance, an example of an undiversified portfo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch
The Milkmaid and Her Pail is a folktale of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 1430 about interrupted daydreams of wealth and fame. Ancient tales of this type exist in the East but Western variants are not found before the Middle Ages. It was only in the 18th century that the story about the daydreaming milkmaid began to be attributed to Aesop, although it was included in none of the main collections and does not appear in the Perry Index. In more recent times, the fable has been variously treated by artists and set by musicians. The stories In the East There is a theme common to the many different stories of this type that involves poor persons daydreaming of future wealth arising from a temporary possession. When they get carried away by their fantasy and start acting it out, they break the container on which their dream is founded and find themselves worse off. One of the earliest is included in the Indian Panchatantra as "The brahman who built air-castles". There a man speculates about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don't Cross The Bridge Until You Come To It
Don't cross the bridge until you come to it is an English language idiom cliché. Though the history of where the phrase came from is unclear, it is believed to have originated from a proverb by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp .... References English proverbs {{vocab-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is a common English-language proverb that appeared in the 19th century, advocating for the consumption of apples, and by extension, "if one eats healthful foods, one will remain in good health and will not need to see the doctor often." Origin A variant of the proverb, "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread" was recorded as a Pembrokeshire saying in 1866. The modern phrasing, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", began usage at the end of the 19th century, with early print examples found as early as 1887. Scientific background A 2013 study using computer modelling compared eating apples with taking a common daily cholesterol-lowering drug to estimate risk of cardiovascular diseases. The computer model estimated that eating an apple a day was generally comparable for people over age 50 years to using a statin drug to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, concluding that eating an apple a day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Stitch In Time Saves Nine
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, '' a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest known ancestor of A is ''aleph''—the first letter of the Phoenician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss
"A rolling stone gathers no moss" is a proverb, first credited to Publilius Syrus, who in his states, "People who are always moving, with no roots in one place or another, avoid responsibilities and cares." The phrase spawned a shorter mossless offshoot image, that of the ''rolling stone'', and modern moral meanings have diverged, from similar themes such as used in the popular song " Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", to a more complementary commentary on "freedom" from excessive rootedness, such as in the band The Rolling Stones. Correct attribution The saying may not be authentic to Publilius Syrus, as the Latin form usually given, , does not appear in his edited texts. It is first documented in Egbert of Liège collection in Latin, ('The Well-Laden Ship'), V. 182, of about 1023: Therefore, the proverb was not invented but made popular 500 years later by Erasmus' ''Adagia'', first published in England around 1500. Erasmus gave the saying in both Greek and Latin. It is also given a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Essay On Criticism
''An Essay on Criticism'' is one of the first major poems written by the English writer Alexander Pope (1688–1744), published in 1711. It is the source of the famous quotations " To err is human; to forgive, divine", "A little learning is a dang'rous thing" (frequently paraphrased as "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"), and "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread". Composition The first fragmentary drafts of the work were written in Abberley in 1707. It was first published in May 1711. Many of the poem's ideas had existed in prose form since at least 1706. Composed in heroic couplets (pairs of adjacent rhyming lines of iambic pentameter) and written in the Horatian mode of satire, it is a verse essay primarily concerned with how writers and critics behave in the new literary commerce of Pope's contemporary age. The poem covers a range of good criticism and advice, and represents many of the chief literary ideals of Pope's age. Structure and themes The verse "es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
"All that glitters is not gold" is an aphorism stating that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so. While early expressions of the idea are known from at least the 12th–13th century, the current saying is derived from a 16th-century line by William Shakespeare, "All that glisters is not gold". Origins The expression, in various forms, originated in or before the 12th century and may date back to Æsop. The Latin is ''Non omne quod nitet aurum est.'' The French monk Alain de Lille wrote "Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold" in 1175. Chaucer gave two early versions in English: "''But al thyng which that shyneth as the gold / Nis nat gold, as that I have herd it told''" in "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale", and "''Hyt is not al golde that glareth''" in "The House of Fame". John Heywood, writing a compilation of proverbial wisdom in 1546, included a line, "All is not golde that glisters by tolde tales". The popular form of the expression is a der ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man's Best Friend (phrase)
"Man's best friend" is a common title given to both domestic dogs, referring to their multi-millennia-long history of close relations, loyalty, friendship, and companionship with humans. The first recorded use of a related phrase is by Frederick the Great of Prussia. It was likely popularized by its use in a poem by Ogden Nash and has since become a common colloquialism. Before the 19th century, breeds of dogs (other than lap dogs) were largely functional. They performed activities such as hunting, tracking, watching, protecting and guarding; and language describing the dog often reflected these roles. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', "In the oldest proverbs and phrases dogs are rarely depicted as faithful or as man's best friend, but as vicious, ravening, or watchful." Beginning in the 18th century, multiplying in the 19th and flourishing in the 20th century, language and attitudes towards dogs began to shift. Origins A statement describing a dog as being a man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
