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Scottish Proverbs

SCOTS PROVERBS

Will and wit strive wi' you.
Wink at sma' fauts, ye hae great anes yoursel.
Winter thunder bodes summer hunger.
Wipe wi' the water and wash wi' the towel.
Wiser men than you are caught by wiles.
Wishers and woulders are poor house hauders.
Wit bought maks wise folk.
Wit is worth a weel-turned leg.
Wives maun be had whether gude or bad.
Wives maun hae their wills while they live, for they mak nane when they dee.
Women and bairns layne what they ken na.
That is, conceal what they know not.
Women and wine, dice and deceit, mak wealth sma' and want great.
Women laugh when they can, and greet when they will.
Women's wark is never dune.
Wood in a wilderness, moss on a mountain, and wit in a poor man's pow, are little thought o'.
Woo sellers ken aye woo buyers.
"Roguish people know their own consorts."- Kelly.
Wonder at your auld shoon when ye hae gotten your new.
A pert reply to persons who say they wonder how you could have done so and so.
Words are but wind, but seein's believing.
Words gang wi' the wind, but dunts are out o' season.
Work legs and win legs, hain legs and tine legs.
Worth may be blamed, but ne'er be shamed.
Wrang count is nae payment.
Wrang has nae warrant.
Wyte your teeth if your tail be sma'.

YE breed o' auld maids, ye look high.
Ye breed o' gude maut, ye're lang o' comin'.
Ye breed o' Lady Mary, when you're gude ye're ower gude.
"A drunken man begg'd Lady Mary to help him on his horse, and having made many attempts to no purpose, he always reiterated the same petition; at length he jumped quite over. 'O, Lady Mary,' said he, 'when thou art good, thou art ower good.'"-- Kelly.
Ye breed o' our laird; ye'll no do right, and ye'll tak nae wrang.
Ye breed o' Saughton swine, ye're neb's never oot o' an ill turn.
Ye breed o' the baxters, ye loe your neighbour's browst better than your ain batch.
Ye breed o' the chapman, ye're aye to handsel.
"Spoken to those who ask us hansel (that is, the first bit in the morning, the first money for their parcels of wares, or the like). Taken from pedlars who, coming into a house, will say, 'Give us hansel.'"-- Kelly
Ye breed o' the chapman, ye're never oot o' your gate.
Spoken to those who do business wherever they go.
Ye breed o' the craw's tail, ye grow backwards.
Ye breed o' the gowk, ye hae ne'er a rhyme but ane.
Or you are always talking on one subject.
Ye breed o' the gudeman's mither, ye're aye in the gate.
Ye breed o' the herd's wife, ye busk at e'en.
Ye breed o' the miller's dochter, that speir'd what tree groats grew on.
"Spoken when saucy fellows, bred of mean parentage, pretend ignorance of what they were bred with."- Kelly.
Ye breed o' the tod's bairns, if ane be gude, they're a' gude.
Ye breed o' the tod, ye grow grey before ye grow gude.
Ye breed o' the witches, ye can do nae gude to yoursel.
Ye breed o' water-kail and cock-lairds, ye need muckle service.
Used by servants whose employers are troublesome.
Ye ca' hardest at the nail that drives fastest.
Meaning that a person pretends to work much harder than is really required.
Ye cangle about uncoft kids.
Literally, quarrel about unbought goods.
Ye canna do but ye ower-do.
Ye canna fate weel but ye cry roast-meat.
"Bolt thy fine meal, and eat good paste without report or trumpet blast. They that are thirsty drink silently."-- French.
Ye canna gather berries aff a whinbush.
Ye canna get leave to thrive for thrang.
Literally, you are so busy that you have no time to get rich.
Ye canna mak a silk purse out o' a sow's lug.
Ye canna preach oot o' your ain pu'pit.
Applied to persons who are diffident in the house of a stranger, or who are backward in describing an article out of their usual way of business.
Ye canna put an auld head upon young shouthers.
Ye canna see the wood for trees.
On a par with the man who went to London, but could not see the town for houses!
Ye come o' the house o' Harletillem.
"To 'harle,' to draw to one's-self by gripping or violent means."-- Jamieson.
Ye come o' the M'Taks, but no o' the M'Gies.
That is, you take all you can get, but take care to give nothing.
Ye come the gait's house to thig woo.
Or, come for a thing which I have not to give. "You beg of him who is ready to steal."-- English.
Ye crack crousely wi' your bannet on.
A hint to a person that his conduct is too familiar.
Ye cut before the point.
Ye cut lang whangs aff ither folk's leather.
Spoken to persons who are very liberal with things which do not belong to them.
Ye daur weel but ye downa.
Or try to do well, but cannot.
Ye didna draw sae weel when my mear was in the mire.
You did not assist me so much as I now assist you.
Ye didna lick your lips since ye leed last.
Ye drive the plough before the owsen.
Ye fand it where the Hielandman fand the tangs.
That was, in their proper place, at the fireside. A proverbial manner of saying that a thing has been stolen, in reply to those who say they found it.
Ye fike it awa, like auld wives baking.
"'To fike,' to dally about a business; to lose time by procrastination while appearing to be busy."-- Jamieson.
Ye gae far about seeking the nearest.
Ye gang round by Lanark for fear Linton dogs bite you.
Ye gae gude counsel, but he's a fool that taks 't.
Ye glower like a cat oot o' a whinbush.
Ye got ower muckle o' your ain will, and ye're the waur o't.
Ye had aye a gude whittle at your belt.

Ye hae a conscience like Coldingham common.
"Coldingham moor, or common, was an undivided waste of above 6000 acres. The saying is applied to persons of lax principles, who can accommodate their consciences to all circumstances."-- G. Henderson.
Ye hae a lang nose, and yet ye're cut lugget.
In appearance you have an advantage in one way, but not in another.
Ye hae a ready mou' for a ripe cherry.
Ye hae a saw for a' sairs.
Ye hae a streak o' carl hemp in you.
Figuratively this means that a person possesses firmness, or strength of mind.
Ye hae aye a foot oot o' the langle.
Ye hae as muckle pride as wad ser' a score o' clergy.
Ye hae baith your meat and your mense.
Applied to a person who has invited another to dine with him, but who has refused, or failed to make his appearance; meaning that you have both the meat he would have eaten, and the honour of having invited him.
Ye hae been gotten gathering nits, ye speak in clusters.
Ye hae been lang on little eird.
Ye hae to be pitied and prayed for, either to end ye or mend ye.
Ye hae been smelling the bung.
That is, you have been tippling.
Ye hae brought the pack to the pins.
"You have dwindled away your stock."-- Kelly.
Ye hae ca'd your pigs to an ill market.
Ye hae come aff at the loupin-on-stane.
"'Loupin-on-stane,' a stone, or several stones, raised one above another, like a flight of steps, for assisting one to get on horseback. Metaphysically, to leave off any business in the same state as when it was begun; also, to terminate a dispute without the slightest change of mind in either party."-- Jamieson.
Ye have fasted lang, and worried on a midge.
Ye hae come in time to tine a darg.
To "tine a darg," is to lose a day's work: you have arrived too late.
Ye hae found a mear's nest, and laugh at the eggs.
Ye hae gien the wolf the wedders to keep.
"You have entrusted a thing to one who will lose it, spoil it, or use it himself."-- Kelly.
Ye hae got a stipend--get a kirk when ye 1ike.
Ye hae got baith the skaith and the scorn.
Ye hae gotten a ravelled hesp to redd.
That is, you have a very difficult matter to arrange.
"Ance let a hizzy get you in the girn,
Ere ye get loose, ye'll redd a ravell'd pirn."
Allan Ramsey.
Ye hae gotten the chapman's drouth.
"From the severe exercise of a pedlar who travels on foot, the chapman's drouth is a proverbial phrase for hunger."-- Jamieson.
Ye hae grown proud since ye quatted the begging.
Applied satirically to persons who pass their acquaintance in a proud manner.
Ye hae gude manners, but ye dinna bear them about wi' you.
Ye hae little need o' the Campsie wile's prayer, "That she might aye be able to think enough o' hersel'."
A reflection upon conceited or selfish people.
Ye hae mind o' yer meat though ye hae little o't.
Ye hae missed that, as ye did your mither's blessing.
Ye hae nae mair need for't than a cart has for a third wheel.
Ye hae nae mair sense than a sooking turkey.
"I ken I hae a gude deal o' the cuddy in me, when I'm straikit against the hair; and my mother used to say, I had mair than eneuch o' the sookin' turkey in me !"-- The Disruption.
Ye hae ower foul feet tae come sae far ben.
Spoken jocularly to persons who, when they go to visit a friend, ask, "Will they come in?"
Ye hae ower muckle loose leather about yet chafts.
"Spoken to them that say the thing they should not."-- Kelly.
Ye hae put a toom spune in my mouth.
Ye hae run lang on little ground.

Ye hae sew'd that seam wi' a het needle and a burning thread.
Spoken facetiously when an article of clothing, which has been hurriedly mended, gives way soon.
Ye hae sitten your time, as mony a gude hen has done.
Ye hae skill o' man and beast and dogs that tak the sturdy.
Addressed satirically to persons who pretend to be very wise by those who do not admit their pretensions.
Ye hae stayed lang, and brought little wi' ye.
Ye hae ta'en the measure o' his foot.
Ye hae ta'en't upon you, as the wife did the dancin'.
Ye hae the best end a' the string.
Or the best of the argument.
Ye hae the wrang sow by the lug.
Ye hae tied a knot wi' your tongue you winna loose wi' your teeth.
Ye hae tint the tongue o' the trump.
"That is, you have lost the main thing."-- Kelly.
Ye hae tint yer ain stamach an' found a tyke's.
Applied to those who, when very hungry, eat a great deal.
Ye hae wrought a yoken and loosed in time.
You have wrought a day's work in proper time.
Ye ken naething but milk and bread when it's mool'd into ye.
Or you know or care about nothing but your meat.
Ye kenna what may cool your kail yet.
Ye live beside ill neebors.
"Spoken when people commend themselves, for if they deserved commendation, their neighbours would commend them."-- Kelly.
Ye'll beguile nane but them that lippen to ye.
Ye'll be hang'd and I'll be harried.
Ye'll break your neck as sune as your fast in this house.
Ye'll dee without amends o't.
Ye'll cool and come to yoursel, like MacGibbon's crowdy when he set it oot at the window-bole.
Ye'll dee like a trooper's horse--wi' your shoon on.
Ye'll do onything but work and rin errands.
Ye'll follow him lang or he'll let five shillings fa'.
Ye'll gang a grey gate yet.
"You will take a bad, evil, or improper course, or meet an evil destiny."-- Jamieson.
Ye'll gar him claw a sair haffit.
"'Haffit,' the side of the head."-- Jamieson.
Metaphorically, you will do something to injure or annoy him.
Ye'll gar me seek the needle where I didna stick it.
"That is, send me a-begging. Spoken to thriftless wives and spending children."-- Kelly.
Ye'll gather nae gowd aff windlestraes.
Ye'll get as muckle for ae wish this year as for twa fernyear.
"Fern" signifies the preceding year. The proverb means that wishing begets nothing.
Ye'll get nae mair o' the cat but the skin.
Ye'll get waur bodes ere Beltane.
Addressed to a person who refuses the price offered for an article, meaning that, as worse offers will be made, the seller will be sorry he did not accept the present one.
Ye'll get your gear again, and they'll get the widdie that stole't.
Ye'll get your head in your hands and your lugs to play wi'.
Ye'll get your kail through the reek.
"The fact is, everybody about the house kens o' the muirburn that the mistress rais'd on you yestreen, for takin' up wi' Miss Migummery. Ye see when your auntie's in an ill key, she gars folk hear that's no hearknin'; an' ye ken yoursel', if she didna gie you your kail through the reek, Maister James."-- The Disruption.
Ye'll hae the half o' the gate and a' the glaur.
Spoken facetiously when we make a friend take the outside of the footpath.
Ye'll hang a' but the head yet.
Ye'll let naething tine for want o' seeking.
Yellow's forsaken, and green's forsworn, but blue and red ought to be worn.
In allusion to the superstitious notions formerly held regarding these colours.

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