Paremiology

Paremiology () is the collection and study of paroemias (proverbs). It is a subfield of both philology and linguistics. Paremiology can be dated back as far as Aristotle. Paremiography, on the other hand, is the collection of proverbs. The proverb scholar Wolfgang Mieder defines the term proverb as follows: A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation. As well as actual proverbs, the following may be considered proverbial phrases: Proverbial comparison, such as "as busy as a bee." Proverbial interrogative, such as "Does a chicken have lips?" Wellerism, named after Sam Weller from Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers (1837), is a triad that consists of a statement (often a proverb), an identification of a speaker (person or animal), and a phrase that places the statement into an unexpected situation. An example: "Every evil is followed by some good," the man said when his wife died the day after he became bankrupt. anti-proverb or perverb. This is a misuse or adaptation of a familiar proverb to twist or change its meaning. Examples include: "Nerds of a feather flock together," "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and likely to talk about it," and "Absence makes the heart grow wander." Anti-proverbs are common on T-shirts, such as "If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you." Even classic Latin proverbs can be remolded as anti-proverbs, such as "Carpe noctem" from "Carpe diem." Anti-proverbs are not new; Aristophanes is credited with creating one over 2,300 years ago. Proverbial expression, such as "to bite the dust." This is not strictly a proverb, which should be a fixed unchangeable sentence; a proverbial expression permits alteration to fit the grammar of the context. Allusion, which is a reference to a proverb rather than a statement of the proverb.