Why keep the dog and bark yourself?
Householders keep dogs to guard their homes by barking when they hear suspicious sounds outside. Figuratively, 'to keep a dog and bark yourself ' is to do the work that you pay others to do for... Read more →
Funny Proverbs
When in doubt leave out
This advice applies particularly to writers who are either not sure of their facts, or cannot make up their minds whether or not to include a passage that pleases them but may not please all their... Read more →
What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals
A sober man keeps a guard on his tongue, holding back anything he wishes to hide. Strong drink unseals his lips and he tells everything. A similar proverb is In wine there is truth, the Latin version... Read more →
Some are wise and some are otherwise
This is a play on words. It means quite simply that some people are wise and others are not. The proverb is originally a quotation from the Scotish post Tobias Smollett in the original from of: Some... Read more →
An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit
Don't try to be too funny at other people's expense. Your jokes make pain them or give offence.
He that hath a full purse never wanted a friend
Here 'wanted' means 'lacked. A similar proverb is Success has many friends. Because a man is rich, he is always surrounded by flatterers and yes-men. For the same reason, A rich man's joke is always... Read more →
A rich man’s joke is always funny
Money is honey, my little sonny, And a rich man's joke is always funny. This couplet is written by Thomas Edward Brown, the Manx poet. The rich man's joke may not be a very good one but it is... Read more →
Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today
If there is one day of the week that we enjoy more than the other six, today never seems to be that day. The proverb is a quotation from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. The White Queen... Read more →
Give a dog a bad name and hang him
The phrase 'a bad name' means 'a bad reputation'. However untrue the charges may be, they may ruin a man's reputation and so 'hang him' - that is, end all chance of his ever re-establish himself as... Read more →
An old poacher makes the best gamekeeper
A poacher illegally kills and steals animals on someone else's land, and a gamekeeper's job is to stop this from happening. He knows all the tricks of poaching, so is best fitted to deal with other... Read more →
