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Whoever lifts one end...??

Posted by Billy Jo on July 08, 2000

In Reply to: Whoever lifts one end...?? posted by ESC on July 08, 2000

: : Is there anybody who knows the meaning of these phrases:
: : - He that lives in hope dances to an ill tune
: : - Whoever lifts one end of a stick, must also lift the other end.
: : Thanks
: : Georgios P.

: 1. To explain this phrase - "He that lives in hope dances to an ill tune" -- requires an examination of two points-of-view on whether "hope" is a good thing or not.

: a) The optimistic view is that hope spurs us to action, keeps our spirits up and is a source of comfort. (Mighty hopes make us men. Hope inspires; work wins; success rewards. Hope is the light of the world. Hope keeps a man from hanging and drowning himself. He who has hope has everything. Hope is the light of the world.)

: b) The pessimistic view is all hope is false hope and that it's better to live in the real world and not anticipate better things that you're never going to have anyway. The phrase in question comes under this category. (Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man. The houses that hope builds are castles in the air. He that lives upon hope will die fasting. Don't feed yourself on false hopes. A false-grounded hope is but a waking man's dream.)

: (Proverbs from: A Dictionary of American Proverbs) by Wolfgang Mieder & others, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992.)

: 2. I found a variation but no meaning for "Whoever lifts one end of a stick, must also lift the other end." "When you pick up a stick at one end, you also pick up the other end." Recorded distribution: Indiana and Washington. (A Dictionary of American Proverbs) by Wolfgang Mieder & others, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992)

: But I have no idea what that means!! Anyone have any ideas?

In the early 19th century, in under populated areas in the Appalachians, it was seldom possible to get anybody to help you lift a stick and, over the years, this saying grew to describe particularly desolate farms.

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