Part 141

Open confession is gude for the soul.

Oppression will mak a wise man wud.

O' the marriages in May, the bairns die o' decay.

O' twa ills choose the least.

Our ain reek's better than ither folk's fire.

Our sins and debts are aften mair than we think.

Our sowens are ill sour'd, ill seil'd, ill sauted, ill sodden, thin, an' little o' them. Ye may stay a' night, but ye may gang hame if ye like. It's weel kenn'd your faither's son was ne'er a scambler.

This proverb is, we think, fairly entitled to rank as the second longest on record, the first being, as recorded by Trench, the German one, "Folk say there is a lack of four people on earth," &c. Kelly says that "this was a speech of a countrywoman of mine to a guest that she would gladly have shaken off, and being so oddly expressed it became a proverb, which we repeat when we think our friend does not entertain us heartily."

Out o' debt, out o' danger.

Out o' God's blessing into the warm sun.

Out o' Davy Lindsay into Wallace.

"Davy Lindsay and Wallace" were two books formerly used in schools; and the proverb is used when a person changes, or, more properly, advances from one thing to another.

Out on the highgate is aye fair play.

Out o' sight, out o' languor.

"Long absent, soon forgotten."--English.

Out o' the peat pot into the gutter.

"Out of the frying pan into the fire."--English.

"Out of the mire into the brook."--Spanish.

Out o' the warld and into Kippen.

Kippen, in Stirlingshire, was formerly so very remote and little frequented by strangers, that a visit to it was jocularly deemed equivalent to going out of the world altogether; and the remark passed into a proverb, used when a person is going to a strange place. The feudal lord of this district was formerly styled King of Kippen.

Own debt and crave days.

Ower braw a purse to put a plack in.

That is, externally grander or more showy than internal means justify. "Spoken when one builds a magnificent house upon a small income."--Kelly.

Ower high, ower laigh, ower het, ower cauld.

That is, from one extreme to the other.

Ower holy was hanged, but rough and sonsy wan awa'.

Ower mony cooks spoil the broth.

Ower mony grieves hinder the wark.