Adages
January 29, 1998
Erasmus collected a great many
adages, expressions, and proverbs from classical literature and published them
in a monster book called the Chiliades Adagiorum ("Thousands of
Adages"). He published the first volume in 1502, and continued adding to
it right up until 1532. The final version had over four thousand entries. In
doing so, he popularized many expressions that have remained in our language to
this day. Some of them, I'm sure, would have made it without Erasmus' help, but
a great many owe their currency to his work. I have collected here some of the
more interesting ones. My criteria for selection are intrinsic interest or
modern currency.
To start from scratch
A cough for a fart [To
attempt to cover up an error]
A flash in the pan
No sooner said than done
Neither with bad things nor
without them [Women: can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em]
Spoonfeeding
Laconic
Shadow not substance
To be a target for the
middle finger [Yes, that obscene gesture goes way back]
Eyes in the back of his head
Rudely and plainly
"Speak with less refinement and you will be better understood. ...Even to
this day, some professors of philosophy and theology, while teaching things in
no way beyond the capacity of a woman or a clown to utter, wrap up the question
in obscure phraseology and monstrous big words."
Crocodile tears
Don't pee facing the sun
Stem and stern
Nothing like Parmenio's pig.
[The story behind this is cute. A Greek village had an annual festival, the
main event of which was a pig-mimicking contest. The local champion was
Parmenio, whose pig call was wonderfully porcine; everybody agreed that this
was the best pig oink they'd ever heard. So one year a fellow shows up at the
contest with a piglet hidden under his cloak. When his turn came, he opened his
mouth and pinched the pig, who squealed. The audience admitted that his
performance was good, but it was "nothing like Parmenio's pig", which
was still the best. At this point the stranger revealed his hidden pig.]
Between a stone and a
shrine. [rather like our 'between a rock and a hard place']
On the razor's edge
One hand washes the other
You're on entirely the wrong
track.
You made this dish and you
must eat it
To drive one nail out with
another
Owls to Athens [our version
is 'coals to Newcastle' -- same thing only modernized]
Doctoring is better first
than last
From head to heel
Wings on one's feet
Fortune favors the brave
Like teaching an old man a
new language [like our "Can't teach an old dog new tricks"]