English, Department of
Title
Proverbial Lore in Nebraska
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
January 1933
The following study attempts to list and to classify the
proverbs and proverbial phrases in current oral use in Nebraska.
My chief source for the collection was the talk of
persons with whom I have been in contact for the last six
months. The amount of proverbial lore on the lips of representatives
of many walks of life is astonishing; one can have
no conception of its extent until he consciously listens for it
and keeps a record of what he hears. Further, friends in
Lincoln and in other parts of the state gathered and sent to
me many lists of the current proverbial expressions that they
knew. The members of classes in American Literature at the
University of Nebraska, classes made up of students coming
from many different communities, contributed a considerable
number. I also consulted collections of proverbial lore and
the sayings that I immediately recognized as current were incorporated
into my lists. I have lived most of my life in Nebraska
so that I felt confident that any expression with which
I was very familiar is in circulation in the state. In instances
where there was the least doubt, however, I had the sayings
identified by other Nebraskans.
My collection in no sense represents an exhaustive study of
the subject. The very nature of proverbial lore makes a complete
and finished list an impossibility. Proverbial lore, like
all other lore, is a growing, living thing, changing from day
to day. The figurative language popular today may become
proverbial tomorrow, or it may pass into oblivion.
The organization of material that I have used is arbitrary;
it was fixed upon for convenience in arranging a large number
of proverbs and proverbial phrases. It is based on two types
of groupings. The first type brings together a collection of
proverbs concerning a certain subject, such as the section on
Women, Love, and Marriage. In the other type, the sayings
listed together are all derived from a common source, though
they apply to many phases of life; e.g., the aphoristic sayings
from animal life are significant chiefly as interpretations of
human nature. In some cases, notably the section on weather,
both types of classification are utilized.
I wish to express my indebtedness to Dr. Louise Pound,
Professor of English at the University of Nebraska. for suggesting
this study and for encouragement and practical aid
while it was in preparation. I owe sincere appreciation also
to the many persons who helped me in my compilation of lists
of proverbial expressions in Nebraska.
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Comments
Published in the University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism series, Number 13. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1933.