[Ads-l] Ax/Tree proverb

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

JL initiated a thread way back on September 20, 2024. Now there is a
Quote Investigator article. The first citation is dated 1678.

Quote Origin: The Trees Voted for the Axe Because the Axe Handle Was
Made of Wood
Hebrew Proverb? Turkish Proverb? Kimberly Joyce Pollock? Wafula
Chebukati? Anonymous?
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/02/09/trees-axe/

[Begin Acknowledgement]
Great thanks to Jonathan Lighter and Fake History Hunter whose
inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this
exploration. Special thanks to researcher Barry Popik who performed
pioneering work on this topic and created two webpages here and here.
Popik located important information such as the 1977 citation.

https://barrypopik.com/blog/when_the_axe_came_into_the_forest
https://barrypopik.com/blog/the_forest_was_shrinking_but_the_trees
[End Acknowledgement]

Feedback welcome,
Garson

On Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 10:03 AM Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  A lot of Internet discussion about what is said to be a Turkish proverb:
>
>  "And though the forest was shrinking, the trees kept voting for the axe,
> for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that since his handle was
> made of wood, he was one of them."
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org