Better safe than sorry

Posted by ESC on May 10, 2000

In Reply to: Better safe than sorry posted by ESC on May 10, 2000

::: who have this meaning to this fucking phrase you better
::: give it up.Don't covet the fucking phrase!!!!!!!!

::Well firstly it's not a 'fucking phrase' per se but, if I understand your message, you're so short of word power that you feel you best express yourself by adding the 'fucking' word to your communications with the same accuracy as a drunk peeing into a sample bottle.

::The phrase 'better safe than sorry' means precisely what it says. It's better to proceed in a safe manner than to proceed otherwise and be sorry you took that action. It's the sort of consequences that might befall you personally if you addressed me in a pub in the manner you've couched your question - I'd probably invite you to apologise forthwith with the option of having your lights punched out if you didn't. So that you can make an informed decision, I'm 27 years old, 6ft 5 inches tall, weigh in at 18 stone (252 pounds to our American cousins), have a judo black belt, engage in martial arts of various other flavours and, best of all, can do the 100 metres in about 11 seconds - if I run into someone really fearsome I can expect to make a safe retreat.

::But don't take this as a threat it's intended to amplify and consolidate the meaning of the phrase in your obviously crowded brain.

::Good luck - see you in the Nags Head

:"Better safe than sorry. It makes sense (and is certainly safer) to take precautionary measures before anything bad happens. The proverb has been traced back to 'Rory O'More by the Irish Novelist Samuel Lover (1797-1868). First attested in the United States in 'Murder at the Hunting Club' by M. Plum. The proverb is found in varying forms: Better be safe than sorry. It is better to be safe than sorry. Better be sensible than sorry..." From Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).