[HN Gopher] Flemish Proverbs by Jan Wierix (ca. 1568)
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       Flemish Proverbs by Jan Wierix (ca. 1568)
        
       Author : Hooke
       Score  : 47 points
       Date   : 2024-03-16 16:33 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (publicdomainreview.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (publicdomainreview.org)
        
       | Dansvidania wrote:
       | A cafe in the town I live in (Brno, Czech Republic) has one of
       | their walls covered with a big mural painting of his, and I keep
       | stumbling onto different versions of the drawings.
       | 
       | I wonder if it's because they are kind of weird that people are
       | just drawn to them.
        
       | sspiff wrote:
       | As a Flemish person, it's surprising to do how some of these
       | still have variations in use today.
       | 
       | And it's disappointing how little I can find about these in
       | Dutch.
        
         | elwell wrote:
         | Which ones are still in use? Do they have origins as Flemish
         | proverbs or older? E.g., "blind leading the blind" reminds me
         | of Matthew 15:14.
        
           | sspiff wrote:
           | Shooting all your bolts (all uw pijlen verschieten) is still
           | very commonly used. Knocking at a deaf man's door (aan
           | dovemans deur kloppen) is still somewhat used, and variations
           | like "for a deaf man's ears" (voor dovemans oren) is still
           | common.
           | 
           | Im also pretty sure I've heard dialect versions of the
           | salesman one and the arsehole ones.
        
         | isodev wrote:
         | Well, "Flemish" is also a secondary name for South Dutch. It's
         | a very interesting collection, I kind of wish some were
         | included in the "Canon van Vlaanderen".
        
       | thih9 wrote:
       | I miss the meaning. Here's what I had to search for:
       | 
       | - "A whistling woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God
       | nor men" - It is not proper for a woman to engage in overtly
       | masculine behavior. Source:
       | https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+whistling+woman+and+a...
       | 
       | - "The music of the rich is always pleasant, even if played on a
       | jawbone" - I still don't know what this was supposed to mean.
       | 
       | I like how wikipedia presents the proverbs from _Netherlandish
       | Proverbs_ [1], with a list, an image, and the meaning.
       | 
       | [1]:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs#List_of...
        
         | yorwba wrote:
         | "play on a jawbone" is in the _Netherlandish Proverbs_
         | Wikipedia article as  "play on the pillory" = "attract
         | attention to one's shameful acts" - in Dutch, "kaak" means both
         | "jaw" and "pillory" https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kaak#Dutch
        
         | smokeyfish wrote:
         | People will put up with a lot of bullshit if they think the
         | bulshitter is wealthy and they may benefit.
        
           | isodev wrote:
           | Literally big tech explained with just one proverb.
        
         | croisillon wrote:
         | my french grandmother used to say that girls whistling made the
         | holy virgin weep
        
         | soferio wrote:
         | I think the second mocks the inclination of humans to
         | reflexively admire everything that high status (ie rich) people
         | do or say. It is similar to this amusing Yiddish saying:
         | https://www.yiddishwit.com/gallery/sing.html
        
       | yabatopia wrote:
       | It's a bit weird to see a French translation of the Flemish
       | proverb right in the middle of the engravings, although in a
       | smaller type. The engravings are from the 16th century, already
       | then there were apparently tensions between the Flemish and
       | French speaking parts or classes in the region.
        
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       (page generated 2024-03-17 23:00 UTC)