proverb · Words worth keeping
Long foretold, long last, short notice, soon passed.
Long foretold, long last, short notice, soon passed.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying gives a long-foretold event a long duration and a short-notice event a brief one. In the supplied reading, it concerns changing weather.
What the words are saying
The parallel wording connects advance warning with persistence. A responsible interpretation keeps the proposed rule separate from evidence about how a forecast was made. Notice time alone does not establish the duration of a particular event, and no threshold for long or short is defined.
Everyday example
A reader distinguishes how early a forecast arrived from the separate question of how long the event will last.
When to use it
Use it to examine a notice-duration comparison with its measures undefined.
What it does not mean
No measured forecasting rule or guaranteed relation between warning and duration is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 610; PDF page 88
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.