A proverb?

Posted by Rafa lesp on August 29, 2002

In Reply to: A proverb? posted by ESC on August 28, 2002

Good stuff, though it would be a job translating those shades of meaning, say, into Spanish or something. Also I don't know how well those definitions are adhered to, especially colloquially, which is where, after all, proverbs have surprisingly common usage.

This would be quite important when one might (dares) to turn them into adjectives, like is quite fashionable these days. I.e. idiomatic / proverbial etc. Naturally the differences in meaning come under the spotlight then.

However, I'd like to see it extended by one or two more: "truism", "cliché", "stock phrase", "hackneyed expression" etc. No obligation of course! Given definitions good as they stand!