"A woman without a man" proverb

[Mary Jane]

Aha! Then that makes the two completely opposite in meaning.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard A. Spears" <RASpears.pipo at XEMAPS.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 6:19 PM
Subject: Re: "A woman without a man" proverb


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Richard A. Spears" <RASpears.pipo at XEMAPS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "A woman without a man" proverb
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> Except it's British where garden = (American) yard.
> Grass is great in yards.
>
> RAS
>
>
>
>
> >
> > Interesting. But there is a subtle, if strident,
> difference. A garden
> > without grass is a good, well-kept garden without weeds;
> there is a
> > relationship between garden and grass, if a negative one.
> A fish without a
> > bicycle (coined by Gloria Steinem?) is, alas, as it should
> be. A fish has no
> > use for a bicycle, just as a garden has no use for grass,
> but the difference
> > is that you will never see a fish on a bicycle...a garden
> with grass is
> > another matter.
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
> > To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 5:37 PM
> > Subject: "A woman without a man" proverb
> >
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> > header -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
> > > Subject:      "A woman without a man" proverb
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
> > -----
> > >
> > > I found the following antecedent of a well-known modern
> proverb on another
> > > mailing list:
> > >
> > > <begin quote>
> > > Jan[us] Gruter[us] seems to have been an interesting
> character: a
> > librarian
> > > & philologist, he lived in exile in
> [Elizabethan ]England for a while
> > before
> > > ending up in
> > > Heidelberg, and produced (amongst many other things) a
> 3-volume
> > florilegium
> > > (in his case, a collection of proverbs and sayings from
> various European
> > > countries).
> > >
> > > One typical English proverb he quotes: "a woman without
> a man is like a
> > > garden without grass". Now, of course, we're more likely
> to find this as
> > > "...is like a fish without a bicycle". You choose! :-)
> > >
> > >
> > > Auteur: Gruterus , Janus
> > > Titel:  Florilegium ethico-politicum nunquam antehac
> editum; necnon P.
> > Syri
> > > ac L. Senecae sententiae aureae; accedunt Gnomae
> paroemiaeque Graecorum,
> > item
> > > Proverbia Germanica, Belgica, Italica, Gallica,
> Hispanica
> > > Uitgave: Francofurti : Jonas Rhodius
> > > Jaar: 1610
> > > <end quote>
> > >
> > >               - Jim Landau
> > >
>