Apologetic proverb

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apologetic proverbs (also known as Wellerisms after Sam Weller in Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers), make fun of established proverbs by showing that they are wrong in certain situations, often when taken literally. Typically a Wellerism consists of three parts: a proverb or saying, a speaker, and an often humorously literal explanation.

A special format for Wellerisms called a Tom Swifty incorporates a punning adverb that modifies the manner in which the statement was related.

[edit] Examples

• "Everyone to his own liking," the old woman said when she kissed her cow.
• "We'll have to rehearse that," said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car.
• A body can get used to anything, even to being hanged, as the Irishman said. (Lucy Maud Montgomery--Anne of Green Gables)
• "This week is beginning splendidly," said one who was to be hanged on Monday.
• "Much noise and little wool," said the Devil when he sheared a pig.
• "So I see," said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

Wellerisms occur in languages other than English. Here are two Dutch examples:

• "Alle beetjes helpen", zei de mug en hij pieste in zee.

(English: Every little bit helps, the mosquito said, and it urinated into the sea.)

• "Alles met mate", zei de kleermaker en hij sloeg zijn vrouw met de el.

(English: "Everything should be done measuredly," said the tailor and he hit his wife with a ruler.)

And a Hebrew example:

• "Nikh'ye ve-Nir'e", amar ha-Iver la-Met.

(English: "We shall live and then see", said the blind man to the dead.)

[edit] Bibliography

• Dictionary of Wellerisms, ed. Wolgang Mieder, Stewart A. Kingsbury (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
• Mieder, Wolfgang, American Proverbs: A Study of Texts and Contexts (New York: Lang, 1989).
• Mieder, Wolfgang, Proverbs Are Never Out of Season: Popular Wisdom in the Modern Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
• Taylor, Archer, The Proverb (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931).
• Taylor, Archer, The Proverb, and An Index to The Proverb (Hatboro, PA: Folklore Associates, 1962)