A caller in Cooperstown, North Dakota, remembers her West Virginia-born grandmother’s stern warning: Willful waste will lead to woeful want. The more common version, Wilful waste makes woeful want, goes back to the 18th century. Other versions...
Among the proverbs in Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations (Amazon): If you drop gold and books, pick up the books first, then the gold. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Who Is Just Carrying Around Gold, Anyway...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski is puzzling over proverbs around the world, but he asks for help remembering the last word of each. For example, he knows there’s a German proverb that translates as “A clear conscience is a soft willow.” No...
Listeners in Bogotá, Colombia, share a favorite Spanish saying, Son como uña y mugre, which literally means “They’re like fingernail and dirt.” It refers to people who are especially close to each other, whom English-speakers might describe as thick...
A hopeful Ethiopian proverb: When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “When Spider Webs Unite” Music Here’s a great Ethiopian proverb. When spider webs unite, they can tie up...
Carlos in Miami, Florida, is fond of the Spanish proverb El que no llora, no mama, which might be translated as “The baby who doesn’t cry doesn’t get any milk,” or literally, “The one who doesn’t cry...