"This book is an attempt to trace the origin, history, dissemination, and meaning of the well-known proverbial expression "to call a spade a spade." The first four chapters discuss the previous scholarship on this classical phrase turned proverb, trace its history from Aristophanes to Erasmus of Rotterdam, review the appearance of the expression in dictionaries of quotations, and analyze the inclusion of the phrase in proverb and idiom collections....

"From "Look before you leap" and "You can't sell the cow and have the milk too" to "There's no fool like an old fool" and "Practice what you preach," the wisdom of proverbs has delighted people throughout the ages. Now, Proverbs Are Never Out of Season provides an engaging look at the significance of traditional proverbs and their variations in the modern world." "Wolfgang Mieder takes a fascinating tour of the many roles proverbs have played and...

A volume of English-language proverbs that originated in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Entries are organized alphabetically by key words, with information about the earliest datable appearance, origin, history, and meaning of each proverb.