Words worth understanding
Start with the thought in plain English. Then explore the imagery, a practical example, when to use it, and what the saying does not mean.
4,000 entries with editorial explanations. The wider collection also contains entries still awaiting an individual interpretation.
proverb · Traditional
A future cock identifiable on hatching imagines later potential visible from an early sign. The saying favours recognising what a beginning may suggest.
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A child not laughing at a mother’s supposed ugliness places affection beside a judgment of appearance. The saying asks for loyalty and respect despite an external beauty label.
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Affection can become excessive indulgence when it prevents a child from learning limits or acting independently. The saying questions how care is expressed, rather than suggesting that a child needs less love.
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A mother handing a child hot yam without scalding imagines parental care shielding the recipient. The saying gives a trusted relationship an apparently protective role.
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Someone resembles a parent or another familiar predecessor in character, habits or manner. The image describes a noticeable likeness, which may be affectionate or critical depending on the trait and the speaker’s tone.
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A Christian forgiving and an idiot forgetting contrasts religiously framed mercy with erased memory through an insult. The saying separates two responses to a wrong.
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The saying arranges a cigarette as fire, tobacco and a person labelled a fool. It makes a disapproving joke through a concrete object and its user.
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Acting in a way one can honestly defend may provide steadiness under scrutiny. The clear conscience is pictured as a reliable advantage, without making someone’s confidence proof that their actions were fair or beyond question.
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A clenched fist unable to give or take gives closed posture an image of blocked exchange. The saying values openness through a physical metaphor.
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Refraining from unnecessary speech can prevent an avoidable mistake or disclosure. The closed-mouth image values discretion in a particular moment, without making silence always wise or forbidding questions, objections and requests for help.
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The saying pictures a closed mouth avoiding a foot. Its bodily joke suggests that refraining from speaking can prevent a verbal blunder.
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The saying regards a cold April as a sign of a well-filled barn later. It turns an unwelcome immediate condition into a hoped-for harvest benefit.
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The saying connects cold, windy May weather with a full barn later. It expresses confidence that the named conditions will produce ample provision.
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The saying expects a cold May to be followed by plenty of corn and hay. The short rhyme makes an uncomfortable condition a promise of provision.
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Appreciating what is sufficient can make ordinary life feel abundant. The continual feast pictures ongoing satisfaction, without requiring someone to accept deprivation, injustice or unmet needs as though they were adequate.
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A council member required to listen well gives public responsibility a receptive role. The saying values hearing people before making decisions that concern them.
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A cowboy’s horse eating first gives an animal’s needs priority in the care image. The saying values responsibility for a dependent working companion.
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Something that appears frail may last longer than observers expect. The creaking-gate image questions confident predictions from outward signs, rather than promising durability, dismissing a real fault or forecasting a person’s health.
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A distorted approach can leave a corresponding mark on its results. The crooked tree and shadow picture that connection, without proving that every disappointing outcome reveals bad intent or a flawed person.
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The saying pictures repeated washing failing to whiten a crow. As an analogy, it can distinguish an inherent characteristic from something superficial that effort can remove.
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Status may bring privileges without removing ordinary difficulties. The crown represents an impressive position, while the headache stands for a trouble that remains despite outward success.
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Recognising a danger early creates an opportunity to reduce it. Awareness is part of prevention, but the word half is an encouraging estimate rather than a measured guarantee of safety.
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The saying imagines a dark man especially attractive to a fair woman. Its jewel metaphor praises a contrast in appearance from the imagined observer’s perspective.
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The saying calls a day without laughter lost. It places a strong value on moments of enjoyment.
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