[Ads-l] Modern Proverb: Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you

Robin Hamilton robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM
Fri Nov 11 17:21:21 UTC 2016


Would "The early worm gets the bird" fall into this category?

Robin

> 
>     On 11 November 2016 at 17:13 Dave Hause <dwhause at CABLEMO.NET> wrote:
> 
> 
>     And, I suppose by slightly cruder analogies, "Sometimes you're the pigeon,
>     other times, the statue" (14 G-hits, 243 for the you're" version and 6.45M
>     G-hits without the quotation marks) and "Sometimes you're the bug and
> other
>     times you're the windshield" (875 G-hits, 523,000 without the quotation
>     marks.)
>     Dave Hause
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Stephen Goranson
>     Sent: Friday, November 11, 2016 8:20 AM
>     To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>     Subject: Re: Modern Proverb: Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the
>     bear eats you
> 
>     Jesus says: "Blessed is the lion which a man eats so that the lion becomes
> a
>     man. But cursed is the man whom a lion eats so that the man becomes a
> lion!"
> 
>     Gospel of Thomas, 7.
> 
> 
>     Stephen Goranson
> 
>     http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> 
>     ________________________________
>     From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <...>
>     Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2016 1:44:04 PM
>     To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>     Subject: [ADS-L] Modern Proverb: Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes
>     the bear eats you
> 
>     I was sent a request to examine the saying in the subject line which I
>     think can be grouped together with some other statements:
> 
>     1) Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.
>     2) Sometimes you hunt the bear, and sometimes the bear hunts you.
>     3) Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you.
> 
>     This topic was mentioned on this list in 2004 and 2010. There is an
>     entry in the DMP and on Barry Popik's website. The QI website now has
>     an entry with supplementary information:
> 
> 
>    https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__quoteinvestigator.com_2016_11_10_bear-2Deats_&d=CwIBaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=MiHGU5IpvO1-8Dp91GX7WJFmKb3jR_yXE_ALV8_jxxg&s=dwsMqp7NX-Shpzfrsg4-MMaAgWGJw5sC-Itle0_LYpo&e=
> 
>     [Begin acknowledgement]
>     Great thanks to Sandra Ikuta whose inquiry led QI to formulate this
>     question and perform this exploration. Thanks to the 2004 mailing list
>     discussants including: Barry Popik, Wilson Gray, Susan Yerkes, Rima
>     McKinzey, and Laurence Horn. Thanks to the 2010 mailing list
>     discussants including: Arnold Zwicky, Laurence Horn, Mark Mandel, and
>     Charles Doyle. In addition, thanks to Doyle et al for the entry in
>     "The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs", and thanks to Doyle for verifying
>     the 1939 citation. Also, gratitude to Barry Popik for his further
>     valuable research.
>     [End acknowledgment]
> 
> 
>    https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.barrypopik.com_index.php_new-5Fyork-5Fcity_entry_sometimes-5Fyou-5Feat-5Fthe-5Fbear-5Fand-5Fsometimes-5Fthe-5Fbear-5Feats-5Fyou&d=CwIBaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=MiHGU5IpvO1-8Dp91GX7WJFmKb3jR_yXE_ALV8_jxxg&s=rzRlMgi3ZoaPN0fDtyLLvngi3mHgMgXeDDHJVhqD86k&e=
> 
>     Feedback welcome,
>     Garson O'Toole
> 
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

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