[Ads-l] Proverb: There May Be Snow On the Roof, But There's Fire In the Furnace

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Quotation expert Nigel Rees wrote about a metaphorical modern proverb
in the October 2023 issue of his newsletter: "Just because there's
frost on the windows, it doesn't mean that the boiler's gone out."

The line above was spoken by English comedian Ted Ray during a radio
skit in the 1950s. The metaphor refers to a person with grey hair who
is still energetic.

"The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" (2012) compiled by Charles Clay
Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro contains an entry for
"Just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean the fire is out
inside" with an initial citation dated 1943.

Now the Quote Investigator website has an article on this topic.
Proverb Origin: There May Be Snow On the Roof, But There’s Fire In the Furnace
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2023/12/20/snow-fire/

This metaphorical framework has been expressed in many different ways
which makes it difficult to trace. Below is an overview with dates:

1899: Snow on the roof but fire on the hearth (Written about some
senior attendees of a meeting of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary
Society held in Cleveland, Ohio)

1900: Snow on Baldy’s roof, but there’s a good warm fire inside
(Spoken by a U.S. veteran at a meeting held in Vermont)

1902: Snow on the roof-tree, but there’s warmth and good cheer beneath
(Written by Caroline Newnes in a New York periodical)

1932: Snow on the roof, but there’s fire in the furnace (Written in a
Mississippi newspaper)

1934: Snow on the roof but there is plenty of fire in the furnace
(Written by a reporter attending an American Legion meeting in Texas)

1945: Snow on the roof, don’t think there’s no fire inside (Attributed
to comedian Groucho Marx)

1945: Snow on the roof, don’t think there’s no fire inside (Attributed
to actor Bert Lahr)

1957: Snow on the roof doesn’t mean there isn’t a warm fire in the
hearth (Spoken by wife of columnist Eric Nicol)

1950s: Frost on the windows, it doesn’t mean that the boiler’s gone
out (Spoken by Ted Ray)

1968: Snow on the roof but that doesn’t mean that the fire in the
furnace has gone out (Spoken by former Canadian prime minister John
Diefenbaker)

1989: Snow on the roof doesn’t mean there’s no fire in the house (Joke
book of comedian Milton Berle)

Feedback welcome
Garson

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