manners see also EVIL communications corrupt good manners; OTHER times, other
manners.
manure see MONEY, like manure, does no good till it is spread.MANY a little makes a mickleThe proper version of the next proverb. Pickle, a Scottish word for ‘a small quantity or
amount’, is also found instead of little. Mickle (‘a great quantity or amount’) is now only
Scottish.
a 1250 Ancrene Wisse (1962) 32 Thys ofte as me seith, of lutel muchel waxeth. c
1390 CHAUCER Parson’s Tale 1. 361 The proverbe seith that ‘manye smale maken a
greet.’ 1545 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages (ed. 2) G5 We commonly say in
englyshe: Many a lyttle maketh a great. 1614 W. CAMDEN Remains concerning Britain
(ed. 2) 310 Many a little makes a mickle. 1822 CARLYLE in J. A. Froude Life (1884) I.
xii. ‘Many a little makes a mickle.’ It will be a long.. and weary job, but I must plod
along. 1905 Westminster Gazette 29 Apr. 3 ‘There is the Tithe Relief. .. But that is a
small item.’ ‘Yes, but many a pickle maks a muckle.’ 1979 C. COLVIN Maria Edgeworth
in France & Switzerland 196 Many a pickle (or little) makes a mickle. great and smallMANY a mickle makes a muckleA popular corruption of the preceding entry. This alternative form is in fact nonsensical, as
muckle is merely a variant of the dialectal mickle ‘a large quantity or amount’.
1793 G. WASHINGTON Writings (1939) XXXII. 423 A Scotch addage, than which
nothing in nature is more true.. ‘many mickles make a muckle.’ 1940 Huntly Express 19
Jan. 3 He said at the close of his address ‘As the Scots say, and they should know, mony a
mickle mak’s a muckle.’.. As the Scots know, he had quoted the proverb wrongly. 1993
‘C. AIRD’ Going Concern (1994) i. 5 Amelia’s mind had gone off at a complete tangent,
trying to work out however many Puckles there must be in the firm. The old saw about
thrift came into her mind: ‘Many a mickle makes a muckle. .. ‘ Could it be a case of
many a client making a Puckle? great and smallThere’s MANY a slip between cup and lip