Why? I think it might be the combination of universality and specificity. A proverb is something that, in a sense, floats free of time and context. It seems to apply to everybody and everywhere. This is a pleasant atmosphere in itself, but the fact that a place-proverb is tethered to a particular place gives it an added relish.
The most famous place-proverbs are to do with Rome. "Rome wasn't built in a day", "All roads lead to Rome", and (my favourite Roman proverb) "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".
I recently learned that this last one had a Christian origin-- it was something St. Ambrose said to St. Augustine and his mother about fasting on a Saturday, as they did in Rome. I was greatly surprised (and pleased) to learn this.
The mention of Rome in proverbs gives them a certain grandeur. Personally I am a confirmed Europhobe, for the very good reason that I've had Europe, Europe, Europe rammed down my throat by progressives my entire life. And yet the very name "Rome" (even for me) conjures up a deliciously vague impression of centuries of history and art and splendour.
I first encountered the proverb "All roads lead to Rome" in a book of proverbs when I was sixteen, and I'm still not sure what it means. It seems to mean different things to everybody. But it has an atmosphere of excitement and of broadening horizons and ever-widening thoroughfares-- very like the line "where many paths and errands meet" from Tolkien's poem "The Road Goes On and Ever On").
Proverbs that allude to Rome are especially potent (by way of contrast) in these drizzly and misty British Isles, which have been blissfully cut off from the mainstream of Yerpan history. They let me momentarily indulge in the glamour of the continent, while reassuring me that we're protected from all that by the silver sea that serves as a moat defensive to a house against the envy of less happier lands.
Of course, not all place-proverbs refer to Rome.
"Sussex won't be druv" is a proverb I've encountered in books, although I've never actually heard anyone say it in real life.
Ireland has "That beats Banagher" or "That bangs Banagher". The full version is "That beats Banagher, and Banagher beats the devil." Banagher is a small town in county Offally, in the east of Ireland. (It's been in the news recently because of a tragic accident, and that's what got me thinking of place-proverbs.)
I know this used to be a fairly popular proverb in Ireland, because I've encountered it used in old books. Today it mostly seems remembered because it's the most famous thing about Banagher. Or perhaps because it's such a memorable phrase. But it does make me wonder...why does this inconsequential place get immortalized in a proverb? Why did this proverb get remembered?
It seems to be the only Irish place-proverb that's survived. This interesting Irish Times article lists quite a few more, but I've never heard of any of them before. Elsewhere, I found a reference to "fighting like Kilkenny cats", which has sort of survived...at least, most Irish people know that the Kilkenny hurling team are nicknamed "the Cats" and many of us vaguely remember the story about two Kilkenny cats that fought each other until only their tails were left.
Donnybrook (an area in Dublin city) has been immortalized in the term "a donnybrook", meaning a fight-- it seems to bettter-known in America than Ireland. So that's proverbial, but not a proverb. Another Dublin suburb, Sallynoggin, was frequently invoked in my childhood, during neighbourhood kickabouts, when someone or other would shout: "On the Sallynoggin!" or "on the Sally!". As you can probably guess, it referred to heading the ball. But this isn't really a proverb either.
Having said all that about the paucity of Irish place-proverbs, I've just realized that I can't think of very many well-known proverbs about places in Britain, either. There's "Sussex won't be druv", which I've never heard actually used, and there's "Carrying coals to Newcastle", which I certainly have heard used on innumerable occasions. What about "sending [somebody] to Coventry?". I actually used this phrase earlier today, but it seems more of a phrase than a proverb. OK, I'm turning to the internet now..
(Please imagine light orchestral music for a few moments.)
Well, I ran an internet search, and all I really got (aside from carrying coals to Newcastle) were more idioms like "ship-shape and Bristol fashion" or "more front than Brighton". It seems reasonable to insist that a proverb has to be a whole sentence and can't just be a phrase. So maybe Ireland isn't doing so bad after all.
What about America, then? The only one that comes to mind is "Virginia is for lovers", and that's a marketing slogan of very recent provenance. "I'm from Missouri-- show me!" (or its shortened form "I'm from Missouri") possibly qualifies as a proverb. (It's used as a general expression of scepticism--- I first encountered it in the nineties TV miniseries of The Stand.)
And aside from those, I can't think of any others. Even New York, which is presumably the modern Rome, hasn't given birth to a single proverb that I can think of. (Yes, there's "the city that never sleeps", but that's more of a description.) The internet gives me this one: "A bad day in New York is better than a good day anywhere else." Well, all I can say is I've never heard this until now.
Wait! I've just thought of another one. "How will it play in Peoria?" Originally a showbiz proverb that came to be used more generally, asking how something (a show, a policy, etc.) will be received by Middle America. It's all I actually know about Peoria, Illinois. It's generally described as a figure of speech rather than a proverb, but it fits my definition.
And then there's "Don't call it Frisco", which I suppose counts as a proverb.
Really straining my brains, I can come up with "When Boston sneezes, Maine gets a cold". (I had to check to make sure I'd got it right. I hadn't. I thought it was: "When New England sneezes, America gets a cold.")
I've just done a quick internet search for other American place-proverbs, but I didn't find any that I would consider well-known. "As goes Maine, so goes the nation" rings a bell, but only a faint bell.
So much for Rome, Ireland, Britain, and the good old USA. But what about the rest of the world?
The first city that comes to mind is Jerusalem. Surely there should be a proverb that mentions Jerusalem? But I can't think of any-- although I have a vague sense I'm forgetting an obvious one. C.S. Lewis uses the phrase "Every road out of Jerusalem is a road into Jerusalem"-- or it might be the other way round-- but, though this sounds like it should be a proverb, I'm pretty sure it's not.
I can't think of any proverbs that mention Paris. Lots of phrases, lines from movies, and famous titles. But no proverbs.
And, after much racking of my brains, the only other place-proverb I can think of-- from anywhere in the whole wide world-- is: "He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him." (Which I've always considered a rather stupid proverb.)
So how about it? What am I missing? What place-proverbs do you know and love, or just know?
The only Australian one that comes to mind is the description of an isolated place being BACK O' BOURKE which is a town somewhere. I think I did look up once to see was Mr Bourke Irish-born, can't remember the answer.
ReplyDeleteConsidering Hadrian's Wall and ancient Roman roads throughout Britian,I think they could well be included in the 'all roads'.
Several years ago there was a Q&A section in a Perth paper which actually put in a colour image of Augustine and Ambrose with an explanation of that proverb.
Someone eventually wrote in and asked why people don't just google, which put an end to the column.
Thanks for that! I'd never heard "back of O'Bourke", so that's fascinating. I'd assume he was Irish. I've just looked it up, apparently it's a reference to a town called Bourke in New South Wales. It was the remotest town in the area and it was named after Sir Richard Bourke, a British army officer born in Dublin!
DeleteThe thing that's always bothered me about the "all roads" proverb is...don't all roads lead everywhere, really?
That person who wrote in and asked why people don't just Google deserves a slap. I've noticed there's actually a lot of YouTube channels where people deliver information that their viewers could easily find out for themselves. For instance, the "Ready to Harvest" channel which describes different Christian denominations in the USA. People like to hear it from someone else. It's a bit like having a bedtime story read to you (something that I never had, incidentally).
Thanks for the comment. I would have been miffed if nobody commented on this one.
There's another one about Rome, I think legend has it by an Irish saint. Something like 'you'll only find God in Rome if you take Him with you'. I like that one a lot because I think it contains a truth about all pilgrimages. Not completely true for all pilgrimages. But I find it reassuring that we carry God there, and then find out at the pilgrimage's end 'He's with us, and He was with us all along'.
ReplyDeleteWhat about 'beyond the Pale'. More of a figure of speech as you wrote but when there really was the Pale of Dublin it must have been a very vivid saying (and maybe more proverb like) when applied to other areas of life.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for those comments, Owen. I think I have heard "you'll only find God in Rome if you take him with you." (There's even a tale in Bocaccio's Decameron which suggests you're as likely to lose your faith by visiting Rome...but that was during a scandalous era of the Papacy.) People seem to have different reactions. I remember Muincin Ó Mangáin (probably spelling that wrong) did a series about the Camino del Santiago and said arriving was a huge anticlimax, whereas a friend of mine said it was like a foretaste of Heaven!
Delete"Beyond the Pale" is a phrase I hadn't heard of. Yes, I suppose it's a figure of speech, but it's actually quite hard to differentiate them, as I found writing this. These days the Pale is probably more relevant than ever!
Of course, I meant to say I hadn't THOUGHT of "beyond the Pale".
DeleteWhat about the flattering “To Hell or to Connaught”?
ReplyDeleteI suppose that counts! I hadn't thought of it. Thanks! It's certainly used a lot, whether historically or jocularly.
Delete