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A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb 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. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial phrase as:
The reference to horses was first in James Carmichael's Proverbs in Scots printed in 1628, which included the lines: "And wishes were horses, pure [poor] men wald ride". [4] The first mention of beggars is in John Ray's Collection of English Proverbs in 1670, in the form "If wishes would bide, beggars would ride". [4]
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
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“I love that cats slap the s**t out of everything they cant understand.” ...
[3] [4] [5] It has often been included in subsequent collections of proverbs and sayings. [6] Some writers have added a second part to the proverb, as in Harry and Lucy Concluded (1825) by the Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.
However, unlike the examples given above in English, all of which are anti-proverbs, Tatira's examples are standard proverbs. Where the English proverbs above are meant to make a potential customer smile, in one of the Zimbabwean examples "both the content of the proverb and the fact that it is phrased as a proverb secure the idea of a secure ...
These wise sayings of men of former times, the words of famous men, are consecrated at holy Pytho; from there Klearchos [c] copied them carefully, to set them up, shining afar, in the precinct of Kineas. When a child, show yourself well-behaved; When a young man, self controlled; In middle age, just; As an old man, a good counsellor;