According to "What's the difference between idioms and proverbs?" (2013), although idiom and proverb contain the meaning that greater than its individual words, they have something different. An idiom is a group of word that "cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual words"; however, a proverb is a group of words that "gives advice about how people should behave."
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My response
I interested in this article because most of the time people usually say idioms and proverb together which make me thought that they are the same which is not true. "Be fed up with" is an example of an idiom; however, "to play with fire" is an example of a proverb.
Once I know the definition of idiom and proverb, it will be easier for me to use the word idiom and proverb correctly.
My mother usually says to me that "early bird gets the worm" because she wants me to wake up earlier than I does. In the past, I always woke up early especially for a holiday because I knew that there are a variety of cartoons waiting for me to watched which different from nowadays.
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Reference
- What's the difference between idioms and proverbs? (2013, January 14). Learners Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/what-s-the-difference-between-idioms-and-proverbs
It is good to know the exact definition of both since sometimes I might confuse about them.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are talking about your mom, it remind me of my grandmother who encourage me to wake up early since I was young. She always said the people who wake up early eat the terminal buds, people who wake up late would eat stems. Sound funny right?
My favourite: The early worm gets eaten.
ReplyDeleteWhat does you mean by the early worm get eaten?
DeleteIf you are the early bird, you get a reward.
DeleteIf you are the early worm, you lose. For the worm, it's better not to be early. I think that as well as possible advantages, the risks to rushing. Facebook benefited a lot by not being the early worm - the early worms were AOL, MySpace, High 5 and other things that were once very popular social networks, but they have been forgotten today because the worms who came later, like Facebook, learned from their weaknesses and did much better.
My father and teachers used to advise me to be early and rush to do things, but I thought that was often a mistake. For example, if you are writing something, later is often better. If you rush it when you don't need to, it probably won't be as good as would be if you took more time. Some students at university with me liked to send their work early, but it was usually not as good as the students who waited and spent more time planning. Of course, you do have to send the work on time: you don't want to be the late worm. Being the worm that is on time is good. Being the worm that is early might not be the best strategy for success.
These sayings and proverbs are nice, but I don't think they should be taken too seriously, and most can be interpreted in different ways.
I'm reminded when I hear these things of a passage in Shakespeare's play Hamlet (Act 1, scene 3). Polonius advises his son setting out on life at university:
Delete"Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for."
This is the same sort of idea as in "The early bird gets the worm," but in the context of Polonius's character, they are empty words that sound good but lack any depth of understanding of human life and the world.
People sometimes quote from this passage as though the words are wise, but Polonius is a skilled politician only trying to impress people for his own benefit: he lacks understanding, and because of his political plotting is soon killed by Hamlet in a misunderstanding - the early worm is eaten for its foolish failure to understand and consider the situation. Polonius, that eager early bird, has early on supported the wrong man, the new king of Denmark.
And Laertes' earlier advice to his sister, which also sounds wise if we ignore the context, is much like his father's. It leads soon to her insanity and suicide because she follows his advice.
DeleteAfter most of the stars are dead, Denmark is saved by a new king who realises Hamlet's true worth. The Danish nation is saved by the foreign Prince Fortinbras who rights the wrongs of the people like Polonius and his son Laertes, both full of sayings and proverbs.
I get your point about the worm but when I read the Hamlet scrips as your wrote 3 times; I've still not understood the meaning of it even you explain that it same idea of early bird get the worms.
DeleteDon't worry about the Hamlet. Native English speakers need help with Shakespeare's English - it's 400 years old, and that's a lot of time for any language to change.
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