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 harmful habit or convention deserves to be broken rather than preserved. The joke compares breaking a custom with cutting into a good cake, challenging the idea that keeping something intact is always a virtue.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
The saying contrasts a father’s restrictive saving with a son’s lavish spending. It imagines opposite attitudes across generations without proving that one necessarily causes the other.
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Repeated practice can become so familiar that it feels natural. Second nature describes that acquired ease, without proving that a habit is good, unchangeable or shared by everyone.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Familiarity and repetition can make an activity easier to manage. The word anything exaggerates that benefit, without proving that practice removes every difficulty or that lack of ease shows insufficient effort.
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Repeatedly moving a task to tomorrow allows considerable time to pass. Notice the pattern of postponement and choose a concrete next step rather than another indefinite promise.
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Habit guiding the narrow-minded criticises automatic reliance on familiar ways. The saying asks whether repetition has replaced fresh consideration.
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Leaving a place or situation may not end the constraint it imposed. Notice what obligations, habits or pressures still limit a person after departure.
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Doing something once can create an expectation that it will continue. The saying warns about a precedent becoming customary, without proving that a single occasion permanently binds anyone to repeat it.
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Repeated closeness to love or fire can make an initially intense experience feel familiar. Familiarity may change attention without removing what matters.
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Past contents can leave a trace after a container is emptied. The image suggests that established habits or experiences may continue influencing later behaviour.
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The hare’s repeated return portrays attachment to a familiar place. Consider how established patterns draw someone back, while allowing that people can choose new habits and destinations.
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The mortar retains a trace of what it has held. The garlic image suggests that past use can leave an impression, without proving that people or situations can never change.
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Once a person has already accepted a loss or stain, further exposure may feel less costly. That feeling can encourage an escalation whose real consequences still matter.
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