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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:
Ritz's le client n'a jamais tort was first recorded in 1908, and is sometimes cited as the origin of the term. [ 3 ] [ 9 ] Barry Pain used both terms in his 1917 Confessions of Alphonse , writing "The great success of a restaurant is built up on this principle— le patron n’a jamais tort —the customer is always in the right!".
The phrase "when pigs fly" (alternatively, "pigs might fly") is an adynaton—a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility. The implication of such a phrase is that the circumstances in question (the adynaton, and the circumstances to which the adynaton is being applied) will never occur.
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first recorded use of the phrase, as a simile, in The New York Times on 20 June 1959: "Financing schools has become a problem about equal to having an elephant in the living room. It's so big you just can't ignore it." [7] According to the website the Phrase Finder, the first known use in print is from ...
The Greek phrase πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, appearing in St. Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, is usually translated as "mind your own business". [1] [2]The first coin that was minted and officially circulated by the United States, the Fugio Cent, displays the words “Mind Your Business” on the obverse.
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The phrase means an unknown factor, something that causes things to turn out differently than would normally be assumed. Woodpiles used to be stacked loosely with spaces, to avoid rot (see illustration) and were presented by racists as natural hiding places for Black people, where they could either nap (fitting the stereotype of the lazy Black man) or spy on their White neighbors.
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