proverbs

   Short, crisply structured sayings widely known in a community, which convey traditional observations on human nature and natural phenomena, moral judgements, mockery, warnings, etc. Though circulating orally, their wording is fairly stable; they generally display formal devices including alliteration, rhyme and assonance, rhythmic phrasing, balanced opposition, and parallelism, which govern the formation of such modern examples as 'garbage in, garbage out' and 'the family that prays together, stays together'. These features, however, may be absent, especially in those which started life as literary quotations, for example 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Familiar proverbs are often alluded to rather than given in full, and may also be deliberately distorted for humorous effect (see 'Wellerisms); they influence the language of slogans and advertising.

   Collections of English proverbs first appear in the 16th and 17th centuries, where they are usually set alongside parallels in other European languages and the classics, reflecting the educated collectors' awareness of international cultural tradition; a high proportion of English proverbs are of foreign origin.

   See the Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (3rd edn., ed. F. P. Wilson, 1970); Simpson and Speake, 1992.