We’ve had a request for more proverbs, or local sayings if you prefer it. You too can add your own just by contacting us, on ‘Contact Us’ at the very bottom of this and every page.
Why no try the previous exercise of translating each one for the benefit of those who interpret them literally.
Soft words butter no parsnips.
After the gathering comes the scattering.
Borrowed horses have hard hooves.
Mills don’t grind with water that is past.
Eaten bread is soon forgotten.
Where there’s muck, there’s luck.
A little pot is soon hot.
Nothing more comes out of a pot than goes in it.
Sleep with a dog and you’ll rise with fleas.
Short pleasure, long lament.
Better to be alone than to be in bad company.
What would you expect from a cat but a kitten.
What would you expect from a pig but a grunt.
A closed mouth catches no flies.
Sense is little burden to the head.
A blind man is poor judge of colour.
Don’t let your tongue cut your throat.
Happy the dead that the skies weep over.
It’s not aisy for an oul’ horse till drop his tricks.
He lives too near the woods till be frightened by owls.
He who goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing.
Always sit on the sunny side of the hill.
Never despise the cobbler for his black thumbs.