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

[Dave Hause]

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


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