January 3rd, 2010
Squidragon Quest part 12
“Beware of Greek’s bearing gifts” is a phrase that doesn’t seem to take “Never look a gift horse in the mouth” into consideration. Maybe the Trojans were fooled because they had only heard the second phrase, not the first. There are a lot of bits of common wisdom that just cancel each other out like “Look before you leap” and “He Who Hesitates is Lost” or “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” and “It  never hurts to help“. If that’s not a good enough argument to distrust pithy bumpersticker wisdom I don’t know what is. Just because something sounds smart don’t mean it am.
Anyone else have a favourite example of diametrically opposed quips of wisdom?
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:54 am
Banzai!
Run away run away!
Never charge into a minefield, barbed wire, and an artillery barrage.
No guts no glory.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:40 am
KNO3 – Thanks! I haven’t heard the “Never charge…” line before. Your first pair is pretty funny.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:17 pm
“Everything is relative” is a contradiction in itself, for if it were always and under all circumstances true, it would not be relative.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
It took me a whole week to realize Squidragon’s ink is water-soluble, as is Christi’s hair product.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:55 pm
“Too many cooks spoil the broth” and “many hands make light work.”
The latter one irks me with its frustratingly ambiguous language too. It only takes a single finger to push a light-switch. Maybe two hands to turn a dynamo. One hand to strike a match. I can’t think of any sort of light that requires many hands to make it work. Who uses light as an adjective about intensity anyway?
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
And here we have it, the Trojan Lemon, which is about to get juiced. Ouch!
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:23 pm
“Can’t Buy Me Love” by the Beatles & “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Chuck Berry (also performed by the Beatles).
Birds of a feather flock together & Oil and water don’t mix.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained & Careful is as careful does.
Also, Eek! The Cat is the first thing I thought of when you wrote “It never hurts to help”. Awesome. I love Savage Steve Holland’s early stuff.
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Whoops, I meant “Opposites attract”, not “Oil & water don’t mix”. Sorry.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
“Absence makes the Heart grow fonder” and “Familiarity breeds contempt”.
January 4th, 2010 at 3:14 am
Too many cooks spoil the broth; but many hands make light work.
Or perhaps it’s just that too many handy cooks make light work of spoiling the broth.
(That sounds potentially quite fruitful for a Princess Planet comic!)
January 4th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Wow, lots of great examples here! BTW, RavenBlack and Mo came up with theirs independently of each other, I hadn’t validated the other comments when they both posted theirs.
Ribusprissin – Either that or Patricia cleaned her clothes in the same way that people go to the bathroom on tv shows. It just happens between episodes or commercial breaks. There’s some magic time structures to fiction!
Dread Pirate – You’ve hit on two that contradict Opposites attract! Nicely done. I haven’t been following Holland since the Terrible Thunder Lizards either.
RavenBlack – I assumed it meant light as opposed to heavy work. Like it’s easier to lift a sofa with four people than one. Personally, I use light as an adjective for sleep or snack or even day of work. I like your take on it though.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Just found the comic. Have only read the squiddragon quest so far but love it. To add to the idiom debate there is always “Frailty thy name is woman” and “Behind every great man there is a woman”.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
“A penny saved is a penny earned.”
“You can’t take it with you.”
January 6th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
The pen is mightier than the sword.
Nuke um’ from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure…
January 7th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
The one which is a contradiction I have always hated is. “Expect the unexpected”. But if I am expecting it, how is it unexpected?
January 8th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Dale for the win!
January 11th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
My absolute favourite- ‘Great minds think alike’ vs ‘Fools seldom differ’ 🙂
January 27th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
He who laughs last laughs loudest…..
also
He who laughs last is slow on the uptake….
March 20th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Reynard61: ““Absence makes the Heart grow fonder†and “Familiarity breeds contemptâ€.”
You can throw, “Out of sight, out of mind,” right in there for a triple!
May 9th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
I expect the unexpected, but it’s the expected stuff (bills, homework, my car running out of gas after I use it, etc.) that trips me up.
May 10th, 2014 at 8:51 pm
Reynard61: Those two actually agree, since they both say that more distance equals more appreciation.
KNO3: The pen is mightier than the sword, but only because you use it to apply for funding for the kill sat, which is mightier than anything.
Brian: “My honor is dearer to me than my life.”, and “That which works, works.”.