PROVERB AND RIDDLE

PROVERB 

A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. Proverbs fall into the category of formulaic language.

Simply put, Proverbs are "Pearls of Wisdom". Proverbs necessarily need to:

·         Be popular and memorable;

e.g., All's well that ends well.

·         Be concise and to the point;

e.g., Practice makes perfect.

·         Provide sensible advice;

e.g., First thrive and then wive.

·         Contain unchanging truths based on experience over the years.

e.g., Honesty is the best policy.

·         Most proverbs exhibit simple rhyme and elegant balance.

Social function

Proverbs          : to keep the wise value of life

Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. However, almost every culture has examples of its own unique proverbs.

Examples

Haste makes waste

Ignorance is bliss

Mustn't cry over spilled milk.

Proverbs are used by speakers for a variety of purposes. Sometimes they are used as a way of saying something gently, in a veiled way (Obeng 1996). Other times, they are used to carry more weight in a discussion, a weak person is able to enlist the tradition of the ancestors to support his position, or even to argue a legal case. Proverbs can also be used to simply make a conversation/discussion more lively. In many parts of the world, the use of proverbs is a mark of being a good orator.

More constructively, Mieder has proposed the following definition, “A proverb is a short, genrally 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.

Proverbs in various languages are found with a wide variety of grammatical structures. In English, for example, we find the following structures (in addition to others):

Imperative, negative - Don't beat a dead horse.

Imperative, positive - Look before you leap.

Parallel phrases - Garbage in, garbage out.

Rhetorical question - Is the Pope Catholic?

Declarative sentence - Birds of a feather flock together.

However, people will often quote only a fraction of a proverb to invoke an entire proverb, e.g. "All is fair" instead of "All is fair in love and war", and "A rolling stone" for "A rolling stone gathers no moss."

The grammar of proverbs is not always the typical grammar of the spoken language, often elements are moved around, to achieve rhyme or focus.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/proverbs.html

d. Summary

            The most important things of proverb and riddle are:

·         A proverb is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity.

·         Proverbs are "Pearls of Wisdom".

·         Proverbs necessarily need to:

-          Be popular and memorable;

-          Be concise and to the point;

-          Provide sensible advice;

-          Contain unchanging truths based on experience over the years.

-          Most proverbs exhibit simple rhyme and elegant balance.

e. Task

Read the proverb and find the similar proverbs in Bahasa Indonesia.

1. You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.
2. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
3. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
4. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
5. Well begun is half done.
6. A little learning is a dangerous thing.
7. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
8. It is better to be smarter than you appear than to appear smarter than you are.
9. Good things come to those who wait.
10. A poor workman blames his tools.
11. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

f. Test

Read the proverb and find the similar proverbs in Bahasa Indonesia.

1. If the shoe fits, wear it!
2. Honesty is the best policy
3. A stitch in time saves nine
4. Work hard, play later
5. Out of the pan, into the fire
6. Kill two birds with one stone
7. Haste makes waste
8. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
9. Actions speak louder than words
10. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

RIDDLE

A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer.

Defining riddles precisely is hard and has attracted a fair amount of scholarly debate. The first major modern attempt to define the riddle was by Robert Petsch in 1899, with another seminal contribution, inspired by structuralism, by Robert A. Georges and Alan Dundes in 1963. Georges and Dundes suggested that 'a riddle is a traditional verbal expression which contains one or more descriptive elements, a pair of which may be in opposition; the referent of the elements is to be guessed'. There are many possible sub-sets of the riddle, including charades, droodles, and some jokes.

In some traditions and contexts, riddles may overlap with proverbs. The Russian phrase 'Nothing hurts it, but it groans all the time' can be deployed as a proverb (when its referent is a hypocrite) or as a riddle (when its referent is a pig).

Riddles are not only just very interesting question answers, but also very useful mental activity as well. In fact, riddles are not specified for any gender or any age limit. Every person, either man or woman, young or old, can enjoy this mind-refreshing activity and make his/her time better. Here the most concerning thing about riddles is that, there are some types of riddles that everyone can solve even kids. However, some riddles are of puzzle type and a necessary mental level as well as educational level is required to resolves such riddles. Besides all this, there are such types of riddles as well that have same level of interest both for the teenagers as well as adults. Moreover, the astonishing thing about such riddles is that, the level of difficulty of such riddles is also same for both persons.

          Riddles occur extensively in Old English poetry. The Riddle Game is a formalized guessing game, a contest of wit and skill in which players take turns asking riddles. The player that cannot answer loses. Riddle games occur frequently in mythology and folklore as well as in popular literature.

Contemporary riddles typically use puns and double entendres for humorous effect, [citation needed] rather than to puzzle the butt of the joke, as in "Why is six afraid of seven?" "Because seven eight (ate) nine." These riddles are now mostly children's humour and games rather than literary compositions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddle

Social function

Riddles            : to entertain by its joke

1.        Q: Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die.

What is it?

 A: Nothing

2.        Q: What comes down but never goes up?

 A: Rain

3.        Q: I’m tall when I’m young and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?

A: A candle

4.        Q: Mary’s father has 5 daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughters name?

A: If you answered Nunu, you are wrong. It’s Mary!

5.        Q: How can a pants pocket be empty and still have something in it?

 A: It can have a hole in it.

6.   Q: What has a foot but no legs?

      A: A snail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azPamDyYDck

d. Summary

            The most important things of riddles are:

-          A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved.

-          Riddles are not only just very interesting question answers, but also very useful mental activity as well.

-          Social function of riddles is to entertain by its joke.

e. Task

Answer these riddles

1. What goes up when rain comes down?
2. What is the longest word in the dictionary?
3. Throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?
4. What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in one thousand years?
5. What has 4 eyes but can’t see?
6. If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?
7. Take away my first letter, and I still sound the same. Take away my last letter, I still sound the same. Even take away my letter in the middle, I will still sound the same. I am a five letter word. What am I?

8. What is at the end of a rainbow?
9. What starts with the letter “t”, is filled with “t” and ends in “t”?

http://www.funology.com/riddles/

f. Test

Answer these riddles

1. A man was driving his truck. His lights were not on. The moon was not out. Up ahead, a woman was crossing the street. How did he see her?
2. What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
3. You draw a line. Without touching it, how do you make the line longer?
4. How many months have 28 days?
5. If a blue house is made out of blue bricks, a yellow house is made out of yellow bricks and a pink house is made out of pink bricks, what is a green house made of?
6. We see it once in a year, twice in a week, and never in a day. What is it?
7. Mr. Blue lives in the blue house, Mr. Pink lives in the pink house, and Mr. Brown lives in the brown house. Who lives in the white house?
8. They come out at night without being called, and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?
9. How do you make the number one disappear?
10. What goes up but never comes down?