A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

MacNelly’s Shoe comic strip) ‘They say tomorrow never comes.’ ‘I sure hope so. That’s

when I have a math test.’ future; procrastination

tomorrow see also EAT, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; JAM tomorrow and
jam yesterday, but never jam today; what MANCHESTER says today, the rest of England says
tomorrow; never PUT off till tomorrow what you can do today; TODAY you, tomorrow me.

The TONGUE always returns to the sore tooth

1586 G. PETTIE tr. S. Guazzo’s Civil Conversation (1925) II. 201 The tongue rolles

there where the tooth aketh. 1659 J. HOWELL Proverbs (Spanish) 27 There the tongue

goes where the tooth akes. 1746 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (July) The

Tongue is ever turning to the aching tooth. 1817 J. K. PAULDING Letters from South II.

167 The tongue touches where the tooth aches, as the saying goes; the English of which is

that people are apt to talk of what annoys them most at the moment. 1949 W. KRASNER

Walk Dark Streets ii. He would stop.. to find the flaws in his case were standing over him,

implacable, like the certainty of guilt. The tongue always returned to the sore tooth. 1985

K. S. ROBINSON in G. Dozois Isaac Asimov’s Mars (1991) 155 In the same way that a

tongue will go to a sore tooth over and over, Roger finds himself following Hans and

Arthus to hear the areologist’s explanation. persistence

tongue see also the DEVIL makes his Christmas pies of lawyers’ tongues and clerks’
fingers; a STILL tongue makes a wise head; with a SWEET tongue and kindness, you can drag
an elephant by a hair.

TOO many cooks spoil the broth

1575? J. HOOKER Life of Carew (1857) 33 There is the proverb, the more cooks the

worse potage. 1662 B. GERBIER Principles of Building 24 When.. an undertaking hath

been committed to many, it caused but confusion, and therefore it is a saying..Too many

Cooks spoils the Broth. c 1805 J. AUSTEN Watsons (1972) VI. 318 She professes to keep

her own counsel. .. ‘Too many Cooks spoil the Broth.’ 1855 C. KINGSLEY Westward

Ho! II. vii. As Amyas sagely remarked, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth, and half-a-

dozen gentlemen aboard one ship are as bad as two kings of Brentford.’ 1979 Guardian 7

Nov. 6 It was a great mistake to think that administration was improved by taking on

more administrators. .. ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth.’ 1997 Times 8 Aug. 25 Too

many cooks spoil the broth and at Apple there is now the equivalent of Marco Pierre

White, Anton Mosimann and Nico Ladenis. assistance; busybodies; work