Are there other pairs of proverbs like “Many hands make light work” and “Too many cooks spoil the broth” that seem to express completely opposite meanings?
Compare “Clothes don’t make the man” and “You can’t judge a book by its cover”.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• “Look before you leap” and “Press on regardless”.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• “The more the merrier” and “Two’s company, three’s a crowd”.
Stephen D Shenfield, Providence, Rhode Island, US
• “Great minds think alike” and “Fools seldom differ”.
Gillian Brodie, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
• “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” “Out of sight, out of mind.”
R M Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
• Yes, many; for example “Procrastination is the thief of time” and “More haste, less speed”, “A stitch in time saves nine” and “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”.
This is why they’re called old saws – their cutting edge has lost its point through constant overuse.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
• “Knowledge is power.” “Ignorance is bliss.”
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• “Give as good as you get” as opposed to “Turn the other cheek”.
Wendy O’Brien, Alvhem, Sweden
• “Every cloud has a silver lining.” “Every rose has a thorn.”
Donna Samoyloff, Toronto, Canada
I could just stare for ever
Is there a limit?
There is a limit to how long you can sit on a hot stove but no limit to how long you can sit on a park bench next to a beautiful woman.
Reiner Jaakson, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
• Yes. However, according to mathematical rules, you have to go to infinity to find out where it is.
Gabor Lovei, Slagelse, Denmark
We are certainly not poseurs
Why do so few of the regular N&Q correspondents pose questions?
There is a greater probability of getting one’s name in print in the answer section.
Mary Oates, Perth, Australia
• Because they’re too busy thinking of clever answers.
Gillian Shenfield, Sydney, Australia
• Is that a fact?
Tijne Schols, The Hague, Netherlands
Gives nonsense a bad name
What would be the weirdest sentence in gobbledegook?
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
(from Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky)
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• “Poppycock to talk about the balderdash, let alone the mumbo-jumbo that one could Hogwash ones mates with. All this piffle, it’s all bull so let’s move on!”
Julie Andrews, Yorkeys Knob, Queensland, Australia
Giving the devil his due
Why is it that sneezers get blessed so much?
I was taught at my Catholic convent school in the 50s that a sneeze is the action caused when a person wants to get rid of the devil, and only a very closely following blessing will stop “him” from jumping right back in again. Sometimes he is hard to dislodge, and that is when we have a succession of sneezes. The blessing is only needed at the end, when he is finally out.
Gaynor McGrath, Armidale, NSW, Australia
Any answers?
Who, apart from balloonists and plutocrats, benefit from inflation?
Neville Holmes, Creswick, Victoria, Australia
If people could choose immortality, would they? Should they?
Donna Samoyloff, Toronto, Canada
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
