Memorize Proverbs From Around the World: 144 Flashcards on Sayings, Art and Anti-Proverbs
Memorize 144 proverb flashcards: English completions, Sumerian and Māori sayings, Bruegel, wellerisms and anti-proverbs, plus the 5 cards to fix first.
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Most proverb decks are fill-in-the-blank drills. Proverbs: English & International (deck code RD2919, 144 cards) is something else: about 30 completion cards wrapped around a long course in paremiology, the study of proverbs, from Sumerian clay tablets to Nigerian hip-hop. Knowing that split is the key to memorizing it.
Study this deck: Proverbs: English & International
1 / 10Complete the proverb: 'A dog is...'
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Two decks in one
- Completion cards (1-20, plus scattered ones like 28, 32, 37-38): All that glitters… is not gold, A stitch in time… saves nine, Fortune favours… the bold, Carpe… diem.
- Proverb trivia (21-144): world proverbs, proverbs in art, music, film and literature, and the linguistics of how proverbs work.
Start with the completions; they take a single session. Then tackle the trivia in themed passes rather than in deck order, because the cards jump between topics.
Sample cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| What is the oldest proverb in the world? | A Sumerian proverb, c. 1800 BC |
| What language uses whakataukī for proverbs? | Māori |
| Who painted Netherlandish Proverbs? | Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1559), over 100 proverbs |
| What is a wellerism? | A proverb with a speaker and quotation |
| What is an anti-proverb? | A twisted version of a traditional proverb |
| What language has no proverbs, according to research? | Kilivila (Trobriand Islands) |
| Which bands named themselves after proverbs? | The Rolling Stones, Bad Company, Of Mice and Men |
| What archaic word survives in There is many a slip? | 'Twixt (betwixt) |
| What ancient Babylonian proverb spread widely? | No flies enter a mouth that is shut |
Concepts you'll pick up: Wolfgang Mieder's definition, proverb vs proverbial phrase, wellerisms, anti-proverbs, proverb riddles, Edo ere / ivbe / itan, the Akan proverb with 12 interpretations, Bruegel and Jordaens, Éric Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, kangas and azulejo tiles, and the four grammatical shapes (imperative, parallel, rhetorical question, declarative).
Fix these cards first
- Card 41 asks for a Mongolian proverb, but the back is a Kafa (Ethiopian) proverb about 1980s conscription. Rewrite the front to "Kafa language of Ethiopia".
- Card 106 asks for "Greek philosophers" and answers Confucius and Plato. Confucius was Chinese; change the front to "Which philosophers…".
- Card 99 is garbled: the standard form is A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Put that on the back.
- Cards 87 and 112 have fronts that are not questions. Rewrite them, for example "Why do children struggle with proverbs?" → they read them literally.
- Duplicates: 47 and 54 ('twixt), 48 and 121 (Babylon), 83 and 140 (Thai hornet nest), 14 and 50 (great power). Suspend one of each pair.
Study tips for proverb trivia
Sort the trivia by place. Make a quick map: Ethiopia (Amharic/Oromo borrowing), Nigeria (Edo, Yoruba, hip-hop), Malta (Valletta sculptures, the motorcycle proverb), Japan (Hatsuyume), Thailand (ceramics). Geography turns 40 scattered facts into five clusters.
Learn a proverb and its anti-proverb together. The deck pairs them for you: spilt milk and Rowling's spilt potion, chickens before they hatch and owls before they are delivered, a bird in the hand and A Bird in the Head. Recall the original first, then the twist.
Keep going
For quotes rather than proverbs, see 208 famous quotes and proverbs with who said them. Search RD2919 in the library on Flip It.
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