As the title suggests, there are some old proverbs that are thoroughly baffling. But on a closer look, you’ll find they actually make sense. Like this one…
I received a bunch of emails yesterday after this proverb went out, asking what it meant! It’s another way of saying that it’s best to let a person, or a day, prove itself.
I find these Penn Dutch proverbs in old books, some of which are printed in the German dialect. The translation can get lost as it converts to modern English…and modern thinking. For the most part, they reflect a farmer’s life from the 18th or 19th century. This year, I’ve been adding the meaning to a proverb when it’s really puzzling. Like this one…
Proverbs are meant to make you think, or to inspire you, or maybe to just start your day with a smile.
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I have read and thoroughly enjoyed almost all of your books and truly hope there will be many more. Having drown up in Modesto I too was influenced by those of the Plain community near there. My first day in high school I was drawn to a girl named Marianne Garber and we became best friends.
Her family was Dunkard but she had not joined the church. While at her house one day after school I met her mom and dad who wore a traditional garb very similar to the Amish. The farmhouse was old but well cared for, the furniture plain, and a bit sparse. Marianne’s mom was quite a bit older than I expected, and after talking a while we discovered that she knew my dad. You could have knocked me over with a feather when she giggled “Oh, little Billie Wilson, I used to baby- sit him when he was just a little tyke.” Marianne took a step closer to me and when I saw her face I knew we would be close. And now, sixty years later we still are. I married a navy man and moved away, but she now lives in Santa Rosa with her husband. She never joined her family’s church, but as Christians we have had a most wonderful friendship. We both graduated from Kaiser School of nursing in Oakland in 1963.
Thank you so much, Judy!