Chapter 12
Muckle gude may it do you, and merry go doun, every lump as big as my thoom.
A bad wish--that every bite may choke you.
Muckle head, little wit.
Muckle maun a gude heart thole.
Muckle meat, mony maladies.
Muckle mou'd folk are happy at their meat.
Muckle musing mars the memory.
Muckleness has nae mair, or else a cow could catch a hare.
Muckleness is no manliness.
Muckle pleasure, some pain.
Muckle power maks mony faes.
Muckle skaith comes to the shae before the heat comes to the tae.
Muckle spoken, part spilt.
So much was said on a subject that a great deal was lost.
Muckle wad aye hae mair.
The more a person has the more he would have.
Muckle water rins by that the miller watsna o'.
Muckle wi' thrift may aye be mair.
"Must" is for the King to say.
My market's made, ye may lick a whup-shaft.
The saucy reply of a maid already betrothed, to a would-be wooer.
My neighbour's skaith's my ain peril.
My son's my son till he's got him a wife; my dochter's my dochter a' the days o' her life.
My tongue's no under your belt.
Naebody daur say Straa to him.
Naebody is riving your claes to get you.
Or going out of their wits for your sake.
Nae butter will stick to my bread.
That is, good fortune follows nothing I do.
Nae carrion will kill a craw.
Nae cows, nae care.
Nae curb will tame love.
Nae equal to you but our dog Sorkie, and he's dead, so ye're marrowless.
Applied to boasters, meaning sarcastically that in their own peculiar faculty they are unequalled.
Nae faut; but she sets her bannet ower weel.
The only fault is, she is too good-looking.
Nae fleeing frae fate.
Nae fleeing without wings.
Nae fools like auld anes.
Nae faut that the cat has a clean band, she sets a bannet sae weel.
"Ironically spoken to them who pretend to do, have, or wear what does not become them."--_Kelly._
Nae friend like the penny.
Nae gain without pain.
Nae great loss but there's some sma' 'vantage.
Nae man can baith sup and blaw at ance.
That is, sup his soup and cool it together; or, plainly, do two things at once.
Nae man can live langer in peace than his neighbours like.
"For an ill neighbour, with his scolding noise, complaints, lawsuits, and indictments, may be very troublesome."--_Kelly._
Nae man can mak his ain hap.
Or plan his own destiny.
Nae man can seek his marrow i' the kirn sae weel as him that has been in't himsel.
"Spoken to those who suspect us guilty of a thing in which they take measure of us by their practices and inclinations."--_Kelly._
Nae man can thrive unless his wife will let him.
Nae man has a tack o' his life.
Nae man is wise at a' times, nor on a' things.
Nae mills, nae meal.
Nae penny, nae paternoster.
Nae plea is the best plea.
Nae rule sae gude as rule o' thoom--if it hit.
Nae service, nae siller.
Nae sooner up than her head's in the aumrie.
Applied to lazy or greedy servants; implying that the first thing they do in the morning is to go to the "aumrie" or cupboard for something to eat.
Nae swat, nae sweet.
Naething but fill and fetch mair.
A philosophic way of meeting troubles. If a thing be wrong done, do it over again; or if it be lost, procure another.
Naething comes fairer to light than what has been lang hidden.
Naething comes out o' a close hand.
Naething freer than a gift.
Naething is got without pains but an ill name and lang nails.
Naething is ill said if it's no ill ta'en.
Naething is ill to be done when will's at hame.
Naething like being stark dead.
Meaning there is nothing like doing a thing thoroughly. "A vile, malicious proverb," says Kelly, "first used by Captain James Stewart against the noble Earl of Morton, and afterwards applied to the Earl of Strafford and Archbishop Laud."
Naething's a bare man.
"A jocose answer to children when they say they have gotten nothing."--_Kelly._
Naething's a man's truly but what he comes by duly.
Naething sae bauld as a blind mear.
"Who so bold as blind Bayard?"--_English._
"Ignorance breeds confidence; consideration, slowness and wariness."--_Ray._
Naething sae crouse as a new wash'd louse.
"Spoken of them who have been ragged and dirty, and are proud and fond of new or clean clothes."--_Kelly._
Naething sooner maks a man auld-like than sitting ill to his meat.
"To sit ill to one's meat, to be ill fed."--_Jamieson._
Naething to be done in haste but gripping fleas.
In his introduction to Henderson's _Proverbs_, Motherwell relates a humorous anecdote in connection with this proverb. An indefatigable collector of "rusty sayed saws," a friend of his, was in the habit of jotting down any saying new to him on the back of cards, letters, &c., and thrusting them into his pocket. On one occasion he had an altercation with a stranger at a friend's house. The quarrel becoming warm, ended by Motherwell's friend excitedly handing the other (as he thought) his card. On the gentleman's preparing to vindicate his honour next morning, it occurred to him to learn the name of his antagonist. On looking at the card he found no name, but, in place of it, traced in good legible characters, "Naething should be done in a hurry but catching fleas." The effect of this was irresistible, and the result an immediate reconciliation.
Naething to do but draw in your stool and sit down.
Everything is so far advanced that the finishing stroke only is wanting. Applied to a man who is courting a widow or spinster already in possession of a well-furnished house.
Naething venture, naething win.
Nae weather's ill an the wind be still.
Nae wonder ye're auld like, ilka thing fashes you.
That is, because you allow every little trifling occurrence to vex you.
Nane are sae weel but they hope to be better.
Nane but fools and knaves lay wagers.
Henderson, in his _Proverbs_, reads "poets" for "fools," possibly as a hit upon some of his friends, several of whom were poets of local celebrity.
Nane can mak a bore but ye'll find a pin for't.
Meaning that none can find fault with you but you will be able to give an excuse for it. "As soon find hare without a mense as you without excuse."--_English._
Nane can play the fool sae weel as a wise man.
Nane can tell what's i' the shaup till it's shelt.
That is, in the husk until it is shelled.
Nane kens whaur a blister may light.
Narrow gathered, widely spent.
Nature passes nurture.
Nearer e'en the mair beggars.
Nearer God's blessing than Carlisle fair.
"You need but go to your closet for the one, but you must go out of the kingdom for the other."--_Kelly._
Nearer the bane, sweeter the flesh.
"And for eating--what signifies telling a lee? there's just the hinder end of the mutton-ham that has been but three times on the table, and the nearer the bane the sweeter, as your honours weel ken; and--there's the heel of the ewe-milk kebbuck, wi' a bit o' nice butter, and--and--that's a' that's to trust to."--_Bride of Lammermoor._
Nearer the rock, the sweeter the grass.
Nearest the heart, nearest the mou.
"Spoken to them who, designing to name one person, by mistake names another, perhaps a sweetheart."--_Kelly._
Nearest the king, nearest the widdy.
"Widdy," rope or gallows. Meaning that those who occupy political or subservient positions do so only during the pleasure of their superiors.
Near's my kirtle, but nearer's my sark.
Near's my sark, but nearer's my skin.
The two last sayings are common to many nations. "Some friends are nearer to me than others--my parents and children than my other relations, those than my neighbours, my neighbours than strangers; but, above all, I am next to myself."--_Ray._
Near the kirk, but far frae grace.
This fact is so well ascertained that there is another to the same effect. "Farthest frae the kirk aye soonest at it;" and the English are of a similar opinion, for Spenser writes:
"At kirke the narre from God more farre, Has been an old sayed sawe."
Necessity has nae law.
Necessity's the mither o' invention.
Neck or naething, the king lo'es nae cripples.
"A prophane jest upon those who are like to fall, wishing that they may either break their neck or come off safe; for breaking a limb will make them useless subjects."--_Kelly._
Need gars naked men run, and sorrow gars wabsters spin.
"Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood."--_Italian._ In the second clause we have another discreditable imputation on the weaving fraternity, implying that they only work when compelled by hunger, and are not naturally industrious.
Need gars the auld wife trot.
"'This is your mother, is it not?' (Cuddie nodded.) 'What can have brought your mother and you down the water so late?' 'Troth, stir, just what gars the auld wives trot--neshessity, stir. I'm seeking for service, stir.'"--_Old Mortality._
Need maks a man o' craft.
Need maks greed.
Need maks the naked quean spin.
Ne'er break out o' kind to gar your friends ferlie at you.
Do not do strange acts merely for the sake of astonishing your friends.
Ne'er count the lawin' wi' a toom quaich.
"Quaich," a small and shallow drinking-cup with two ears. The proverb has a similar meaning to "Fair fa' the wife," &c., _q. v._
Ne'er do ill that gude may come o't.
Ne'er draw your dirk when a dunt will do.
That is, do not resort to extreme measures when mild means will suffice.
Ne'er fash your beard.
"'Tell them all this, and hear what they say till't.'
"'Indeed, mistress, I can tell ye that already, without stirring my shanks for the matter,' answered Nelly Trotter; 'they will e'en say that ye are ae auld fule, and me anither, that may hae some judgment in cock-bree or in scate-rumples, but maunna fash our beards about onything else.'"--_St Ronan's Well._
Ne'er fash your thoom.
"Ne'er mind her flytes, but set your heart at ease: Sit down and blaw your pipe, nor fash your thoom, An' there's my hand, she'll tire, and soon sing dumb."--_Fergusson._
Ne'er find faut wi' my shoon, unless you pay my souter.
Addressed to impertinent persons who find fault with the personal appearance or dress of others.
Ne'er gang to the deil wi' the dishclout on your head.
"If you will be a knave, be not in a trifle, but in something of value. A Presbyterian minister had a son who was made Archdeacon of Ossery; when this was told to his father, he said, 'If my son will be a knave, I am glad that he will be an archknave.' This has the same sense, 'As good be hanged for an old sheep as a young lamb.'"--_Kelly._
Ne'er gie me my death in a toom dish.
This means, jocularly, if you wish to kill me, do it not by starvation; in other words, give me something to eat.
Ne'er gude, egg nor bird.
Ne'er kiss a man's wife, or dight his knife, for he'll do baith after you.
Ne'er let on, but laugh in your sleeve.
Ne'er let the nose blush for the sins o' the mouth.
Ne'er let your feet rin faster than your shoon.
"'But you must recollect, that before taking such a step you ought to be pretty well provided with means.'
"'Ou', fegs! I hae nae trick o' letting my feet rin faster than my shoon. I'll no forget the means, ye may be sure; and as for Jean hersel, I hae nae skill o' women folk, if she's no just as willing as me.'"--_The Disruption._
Ne'er lippen ower muckle to a new friend or an auld enemy.
Ne'er marry a penniless maiden that's proud o' her pedigree.
Ne'er marry a widow unless her first man was hanged.
Ne'er misca' a Gordon in the raws o' Stra'bogie.
The Gordons were the ruling clan in Strathbogie; and the proverb means that we should never speak ill of a man on his own property.
Ne'er put your arm out farther than you can draw it easily back again.
"The deacon used to say to me, 'Nick--young Nick' (his name was Nicol as well as mine, sae folk ca'd us, in their daffin, young Nick and auld Nick)--'Nick,' said he, 'never put out your arm farther than ye can draw it easily back again.'"--_Rob Roy._
Ne'er ower auld to learn.
Ne'er put a sword in a wudman's hand.
Ne'er put the plough before the owsen.
Ne'er quit certainty for hope.
Ne'er rax abune your reach.
That is, do not exert yourself beyond your strength.
Ne'er say gae, but gang.
Ne'er say "Ill fallow" to him you deal wi'.
Ne'er shaw me the meat, but the man.
"If a man be fat, plump, and in good liking, I shall not ask what keeping he has had."--_Kelly._
Ne'er shaw your teeth unless ye can bite.
Ne'er speak ill o' the deil.
Ne'er speak ill o' them whase bread ye eat.
Ne'er spend gude siller looking for bad.
"John had never before taken any debtor to law, his motto being, 'Never spend gude siller looking for bad;' but in this case, he said, he was determined to roup them to the door, although it shouldna put a penny in his pouch."--_Roy's "Generalship."_
Ne'er strive against the stream.
Ne'er tak a forehammer to break an egg.
Ne'er tell your fae when your fit sleeps.
Ne'er throw the bridle o' your horse ower a fool's arm.
Ne'er use the taws when a gloom will do.
Of similar import to "Ne'er draw your dirk," _q. v._
Ne'er was a wife weel pleased coming frae the mill but ane, and she brak her neck bane.
Kelly says this is "commonly said to wives when they come from the mill, but the occasion, sense, or meaning I know not." Is it not because they are always dissatisfied with the "mouter" which the miller takes?
Ne'er waur happen you than your ain prayer.
Neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor gude red herring.
Used to signify that an article is good for nothing.
Neither sae sinfu' as to sink nor sae holy as to soom.
Never's a lang word.
New lairds mak new laws.
"They were decent, considerate men, that didna plague a puir herd callant muckle about a moorfowl or a mawkin, unless he turned common fowler--Sir Robert Ringhorse used to say, the herd lads shot as mony gleds and pyots as they did game. But new lords new laws--naething but fine and imprisonment, and the game no a feather the plentier."--_St Ronan's Well._
Next to nae wife, a gude ane's best.
Nineteen naesays o' a maiden is half a grant.
"Her laugh will lead you to the place, Where lies the happiness ye want; And plainly tell you to your face, Nineteen nae-says are half a grant."--_Tea-Table Miscellany._
Nipping and scarting's Scotch folk's wooing.
"It may be Scotch folk's wooing; but if that's the gait Betty Bodle means to use you, Watty, my dear, I would see her, and a' the Kilmarkeckles that ever were cleckit, doon the water, or strung in a wuddy, before I would hae onything to say to ane come o' their seed or breed. To lift her hands to her bridegroom!"--_The Entail._
Now-a-days truth's news.
Now's now, and Yule's in winter.
O' ae ill come mony.
O' a' fish i' the sea, herring is king.
O' a' ills, nane's best.
O' a' little tak a little; when there's nought tak a'.
O' a' meat i' the warld the drink gaes best down.
O' a' sorrow, a fu' sorrow's the best.
"Spoken when friends die and leave good legacies."--_Kelly._
O' a' the months o' the year curse a fair Februar.
O' bairns' gifts ne'er be fain; nae sooner they gie than they tak it again.
O' gude advisement comes nae ill.
O' ill debtors men get aiths.
"Aith," or oath, is here used in the sense of promise, signifying that from "ill debtors" men get not money but promises, which, of course, are never performed.
Oh for a drap o' gentle blude, that I may wear black abune my brow.
"In Scotland no woman is suffered to wear a silk hood unless she be a gentlewoman; that is, a gentleman's daughter, or married to a gentleman. A rich maid having the offer of a wealthy yeoman, or a bare gentleman, wished for the last, to qualify her to wear a black hood. It is since spoken to such wealthy maidens upon the like occasion."--_Kelly._
O' little meddling comes muckle care.
On painting and fighting look abeigh.
On the sea sail, on the land settle.
Onything for ye about an honest man's house but a day's wark.
"Onything sets a gude face," quo' the monkey wi' the mutch on.
Open confession is gude for the soul.
Oppression will mak a wise man wud.
O' the marriages in May, the bairns die o' decay.
O' twa ills choose the least.
Our ain reek's better than ither folk's fire.
Our sins and debts are aften mair than we think.
Our sowens are ill sour'd, ill seil'd, ill sauted, ill sodden, thin, an' little o' them. Ye may stay a' night, but ye may gang hame if ye like. It's weel kenn'd your faither's son was ne'er a scambler.
This proverb is, we think, fairly entitled to rank as the second longest on record, the first being, as recorded by Trench, the German one, "Folk say there is a lack of four people on earth," &c. Kelly says that "this was a speech of a countrywoman of mine to a guest that she would gladly have shaken off, and being so oddly expressed it became a proverb, which we repeat when we think our friend does not entertain us heartily."
Out o' debt, out o' danger.
Out o' God's blessing into the warm sun.
Out o' Davy Lindsay into Wallace.
"Davy Lindsay and Wallace" were two books formerly used in schools; and the proverb is used when a person changes, or, more properly, advances from one thing to another.
Out on the highgate is aye fair play.
Out o' sight, out o' languor.
"Long absent, soon forgotten."--_English._
Out o' the peat pot into the gutter.
"Out of the frying pan into the fire."--_English._
"Out of the mire into the brook."--_Spanish._
Out o' the warld and into Kippen.
Kippen, in Stirlingshire, was formerly so very remote and little frequented by strangers, that a visit to it was jocularly deemed equivalent to going out of the world altogether; and the remark passed into a proverb, used when a person is going to a strange place. The feudal lord of this district was formerly styled King of Kippen.
Own debt and crave days.
Ower braw a purse to put a plack in.
That is, externally grander or more showy than internal means justify. "Spoken when one builds a magnificent house upon a small income."--_Kelly._
Ower high, ower laigh, ower het, ower cauld.
That is, from one extreme to the other.
Ower holy was hanged, but rough and sonsy wan awa'.
Ower mony cooks spoil the broth.
Ower mony grieves hinder the wark.
Ower mony irons in the fire, some maun cool.
Spoken when a person has too many projects in hand; meaning that some must fail.
"Ower mony maisters," quo' the puddock to the harrow, when ilka tooth gied her a tug.
Ower muckle hameliness spoils gude courtesy.
"Too much familiarity breeds contempt."--_English._
Ower muckle loose leather about your chafts.
A rude but expressive way of saying that a person is not looking well, or is, _Scotice_, "thin."
Ower muckle cookery spoils the brochan.
Ower muckle o' ae thing is gude for naething.
Ower narrow counting culyes nae kindness.
To "culye" is to gain, to draw forth. "When people deal in rigour with us we think ourselves but little obliged to them."--_Kelly._
Ower reckless may repent.
Ower sicker, ower loose.
Or, you are either too harsh and stringent, or the very reverse.
Ower strong meat for your weak stamack.
Ower sune is easy mended.
Patch and lang sit, build and soon flit.
A slow and gradual rise is likely to prove a permanent one; but a rapid or sudden one merely temporary; or, as the Irishman said, "Up like a rocket, and down like its stick."
Paterson's mare aye goes foremost.
Pay-before-hand's never weel ser'd.
The tradesman is said to be troubled with two kinds of bad customers, viz., those who pay in advance, or "before-hand," and those who do not pay at all.
Pay him in his ain coin.
Pennyless souls maun pine in purgatory.
Penny-wheep's gude enough for muslin-kail.
"Penny-wheep," says Jamieson, "is the weakest kind of small beer, sold at a _penny_ per bottle;" and muslin-kail is a common kind of broth. The proverb expresses that poor service merits poor reward.
Peter's in, Paul's out.
"Spoken when, after we had wanted a necessary person a long time, upon his arrival, another equally necessary is gone."--_Kelly._
Pigs may whistle, but they hae an ill mouth for't.
Applied when an awkward person is attempting to perform some work of which he is incapable.
Penny wise and pound foolish.
Pint stoups hae lang lugs.
For a great deal is said over them, which, but for their influence, would not be heard.
Pith's gude at a' play but threading o' needles.
Plack aboot's fair play.
Placks and bawbees grow pounds.
Plaister thick and some will stick.
Play carle wi' me again if you daur.
"Do not dare to offer to contest with me. Spoke by parents to stubborn children."--_Kelly._
Play's gude while it's play.
Pleading at the law is like fighting through a whin bush--the harder the blows the sairer the scarts.
The knowledge that "whin bush" is the furze renders this saying easily intelligible.
Please your kimmer, and ye'll easy guide your gossip.
Please yoursel and ye'll no dee o' the pet.
Plenty is nae plague.
Plenty maks dainty.
Poets and painters are aye poor.
This appears in no collection preceding Henderson's, and is probably a record of his own experience and that of his friends, he being a painter himself by profession, and on intimate terms with Motherwell and others.
Poets and painters hae liberty to lo'e.
Poor folk are fain o' little.
Poor folk maun fit their wame to their winning.
Poor folk seek meat for their stamacks, and rich folk stamacks for their meat.
Poor folk's friends soon misken them.
Poortith pairts gude company.
Poortith's better than pride.
Poortith's pain, but nae disgrace.
Poortith taks awa pith.
"'I tell you, Master Moniplies,' said Jenkin, 'I am as poor as any Scot among you. I have broken my indenture, and I think of running the country.' 'A-well-a-day!' said Ritchie. 'But that maunna be, man. I ken weel, by sad experience, that poortith takes away pith, and the man sits full still that has a rent in his breeks.'"--_Fortunes of Nigel._
Poortith wi' patience is less painfu'.
Possession's worth an ill charter.
Poverty's a bad back friend.
Praise without profit puts little i' the pat.
Prayer and practice is gude rhyme.
Pretty man, I maun say; tak a peat and sit down.
We are unable to make much either of this proverb or of Kelly's note to it--"An ironical expression to a mean boy who would gladly be esteemed."
Pride and grace ne'er dwell in ae place.
Pride an' sweer'dness need muckle uphaudin.
"Sweer'd," lazy or unwilling. Pride and laziness require much to support them.
Pride finds nae cauld.
"Spoken heretofore to young women when, in compliance with the fashion, they went with their breasts and shoulders bare; and may now (1721) be applied to ladies with their extravagant hoops."--_Kelly._
Pride ne'er leaves its maister till he get a fa'.
Pride prinks her brow for the deil to pouse.
That is, pride bedecks herself, and the devil despoils.
Pride's an ill horse to ride.
Pride that dines wi' vanity sups wi' contempt.
Pride will hae a fa'.
Provision in season maks a bien house.
Prudence should be winning when thrift is spinning.
Puddins and paramours should be hetly handled.
"Puddings when cold are uneatable; and love when coldrife is near the breaking off."--_Kelly._
Put a coward to his mettle, and he'll fight the deil.
"A baited cat is as fierce as a lion."--_English._
Put anither man's bairn in your bosom, and he'll creep oot at your sleeve.