A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

BETTER wed over the mixen than over the moor

It is better to marry a neighbour than a stranger. For mixen, see quot. 1661.

a 1628 in M. L. Anderson Proverbs in Scots (1957) no. 320 Better to wow [woo]

over middin, nor [than] over mure. a 1661 T. FULLER Worthies (Cheshire) 174 Better

Wed over the Mixon [midden] then over the Moor.. that is, hard by or at home, Mixon

being that heap of Compost which lyeth in the yards of good husbands. 1818 SCOTT

Heart of Midlothian III. vi. He might hae dune waur [worse] than married me. .. Better

wed over the mixen as over the moor, as they say in Yorkshire. 1874 T. HARDY Far from

Madding Crowd I. xxii. ‘That means matrimony.’ .. ‘Well, better wed over the mixen

than over the moor,’ said Laban Tall. familiarity; marriage

better see also DISCRETION is the better part of valour; the GREY mare is the better
horse; a LIVE dog is better than a dead lion.

BETWEEN two stools one falls to the ground

Inability to choose between, or accommodate oneself to, alternative viewpoints or courses
of action is likely to end in disaster. Now more common in the metaphorical phrase to fall
between two stools. Cf. medieval L. labitur enitens sellis herere duabus, he falls trying to sit
on two seats; also current in early 16th-cent. German (woodcut in Thomas Murner’s
Schelmenzunft, 1516).

c 1390 GOWER Confessio Amantis IV. 626 Thou farst [farest] as he betwen tuo

stoles That wolde sitte and goth to grounde. c 1530 R. HILL Commonplace Book (EETS)

129 Betwen two stolis, the ars goth to grwnd. 1841 DICKENS Old Curiosity Shop I.

xxxiii. She was.. still in daily occupation of her old stool opposite to that of her brother

Sampson. And equally certain it is, by the way, that between these two stools a great

many people had come to the ground. 1907 W. DE MORGAN Alice-for-Short xvi. Your

mother wants to put it off on me. .. But I won’t be let into saying anything. .. Charles saw

that between the two stools the young couple wouldn’t fall to the ground, but would go to

the altar. 1979 A. CHISHOLM Nancy Cunard xxi. Politically, Nancy had fallen between

stools. decision and indecision

beware see let the BUYER beware; beware of an OAK it draws the stroke.