bitten see also ONCE bitten, twice shy.black see it doesn’t matter if a CAT is black or white.. ; the DEVIL is not so black as he is
painted; FEBRUARY fill dyke, be it black or be it white; TWO blacks don’t make a white.
blame see a BAD workman blames his tools; COMMON fame is seldom to blame.The BLEATING of the kid excites the tigerThe victim’s cries of distress stir up the predator; Kipling took the idea, in a story about
schoolboys giving bullies a taste of their own medicine, from Francis Galton’s The Art of
Travel (1855; ‘one of the forms had been studying that pleasant work’).
1899 KIPLING ‘Moral Reformers’ in Stalky & Co Ruffle his hair, Turkey. Now you
get down, too. ‘The bleatin’ of the kid excites the tiger.’ 1921 F. HAMILTON Here,
There and Everywhere 13 I have a strong suspicion that the unhappy goats played a part..
and that they were tethered in different parts of the jungle, for, as we all know, ‘the
bleating of the kid excites the tiger.’ 2006 Jewish Russian Telegraph 21 Feb. (online)
Serial apologies too numerous to count, $50 million thrown to his tormentors in an
attempt to make the issue go away.. —none of this worked. It never works. On the
contrary, once again the bleat of the lamb excited the tiger. misfortuneA BLEATING sheep loses a biteOpportunities are missed through too much chatter.1599 J. MINSHEU Dialogues in Spanish 20 That sheepe that bleateth looseth a bit
[mouthful]. 1659 G. TORRIANO English & Italian Dict. 37 A bleating sheep loseth her
pasture. 1861 T. HUGHES Tom Brown at Oxford II. vii. He said something about a
bleating sheep losing a bite; but I should think this young man is not much of a talker.
1978 R. v. JONES Most Secret War xlv. I thought of reminding him [Churchill] of an
adage that I had learnt from my grandfather: ‘Every time a sheep bleats it loses a nibble.’
opportunity, missed; speech and silenceBLESSED is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed1727 POPE Letter 6 Oct. (1956) II. 453 I have.. repeated to you, a ninth Beatitude..