Part 40

Cauld parritch are sooner het than new anes made.

Cauld water scauds daws.

Chalk's no shears.

"Taken from tailors marking out their cloth before they cut it, signifying that a thing may be proposed that will never be executed."--Kelly.

Change o' deils is lightsome.

Change your friend ere ye hae need.

Changes are lightsome, and fools like them.

Changes o' wark is lightening o' hearts.

Charge nae mair shot than the piece 'll bear.

Charity begins at hame, but shouldna end there.

Cheatery game will aye kythe.

"Kythe," to appear. That is, cheatery or evil-doing will almost invariably come to light. A qualified version of the English saying, "Murder will out."

Choose your wife on Saturday, not on Sunday.

This saying suggests that a wife should rather be chosen for her good qualities and usefulness, which are seen in her daily labours, than for her fine dress or her Sunday manners.

Claw for claw, as Conan said to the deil.

"In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of MacPherson), there occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes, each of whom has some distinguishing attribute; upon these qualities, and the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed, which are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan is distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of antiquity, descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the archfiend who presided there, which he instantly returned: hence the proverb."--Sir Walter Scott, Note to Waverley.

Claw me and I'll claw thee.

Speak well of me and I will speak well of thee, whether, we presume, it is deserved or not.

Clawing and eating needs but a beginning.

Clean pith and fair play.

Clear in the south beguiled the cadger.

Cadgers (beggars, or gipsy pedlars), from their out-of-door experience, are allowed to be good judges of coming weather. The proverb means that even the best judges may be occasionally mistaken in their opinions. The one following is of similar import.

Clear in the south drown'd the ploughman.

Clecking time's aye canty time.

Good cheer and mirth in the house when a birth has taken place.

"'Perhaps,' said Mannering, 'at such a time a stranger's arrival might be inconvenient?' 'Hout, na, ye needna be blate about that; their house is muckle enough, and clecking time's aye canty time.'"--Guy Mannering.

Clippet sheep will grow again.

Clout upon a hole is gude gentry, clout upon a clout is gude yeomanry, but clout upon a clouted clout is downricht beggary.