Peculiar Proverbs

Peculiar Proverbs is a hilarious and enlightening collection of genuine proverbs from around the world that ignores the sayings we are all familiar with and focuses on the more obscure. Some are deft, witty, and colorful, others are just plain weird, but they are all fascinating. The proverbs are grouped in topics ranging from work (or reasons not to), family life, love, food, age, religion, money, and many more. Humor and wisdom characterize these bizarre and quirky sayings, and they reveal much about their countries of origin, and plenty about human nature. Peculiar Proverbs includes sayings you won't find in any other collection, sometimes so surreal they defy you to decipher them, providing hours of entertainment. Remember: The man who tickles himself can laugh when he chooses. *Dogs and rude people have no hands (Italy) *God preserve us from pitchforks, for they make three holes (Switzerland) *It is not necessary for priests to marry as long as peasants have wives (Germany) *A mother-in-law, like the yucca tree, is useful underground (Cuba) *Better the gurgling of a camel than the prayers of a fish (Egypt) *Give a dog an appetizing name, and eat him (China) *There are two good people: one of them is dead, and the other one was not born (Estonia) *Mediocrity is climbing a molehill without sweating (Iceland) *You cannot drink water, it is not vodka (Russia) *A cow pat is wider when trodden on (Ireland)

The relationship of the Strange Woman and Woman Wisdom, separate but inseparable in Proverbs 1-9, is the book's analytic starting point, becoming a hermeneutical lens for viewing other texts of strangeness-of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and cultic activity. Wisdom and strangeness mark the narratives of Samson and Solomon, while priestly literature sets strangeness against holiness. Miriam and Dinah, sisters of cultic eponyms Aaron and Levi, are Israelite women defiled or unclean, made strange. Priestly and wisdom constructions of gendered strangeness intersect, illuminating the ideologies of identity that develop in the postexilic period and that shape the beginnings of the biblical canon.

It is a common knowledge among the ex-refugees from Vietnam that after more than 40 years of living in the US and even with a smooth and successful mainstreaming into the new way of living in an alien social and cultural environment in America, a good number of them are still suffering from the “culture shock.” Consequently, they have been researching and looking for their old traditions, cultural values and moral practices that have been deeply ingrained in them but have been lost or forgotten due to a variety of factors such as: the language barrier and differences in culture and moral standard between their old and new countries. Because of the demand of working long hours and struggling for survival many of them have no time or ability to educate and communicate effectively with their children in Vietnamese or English, let alone teaching them Vietnamese traditions and morals. As a result, they feel guilty of being unable to carry out this important and traditional duty. This unusual educational book is an effective and powerful tool for all those who can or cannot read Vietnamese or English to discover, rediscover, learn or relearn one of the most esteemed aspects of the Vietnamese traditional teaching: wisdoms and living with virtues and decency. Sau 40 nm nh c Hoa K, nhiu ngi Vit Nam cm thy cn có nhu cu hc hay hc li nhng truyn thng và o c mà ông cha h ã truyn li cho h t th h này n th h khác. H rt quan tâm n nhng sc thái này ca nn vn hóa Vit nam và mun truyn li cho con cháu ca h nhng h gp nhiu khó khn vì nhu cu làm n vt v , không có thì gi, và nht là nhiu khi vì là ngôn ng khác bit cho nên h không có th thc hin uc nguyn vng này mt cách d dàng. Cho nên nhiu ngi Vit cm thy bt lc vì không th thc hin c bn phn quan trng và truyn thng dy d con cháu h vn hóa và o c ca Vit Nam. Dùng hai th ting, Vit và M, cun sách này nhm giúp nhng ai hoc không bit c ting Vit hay ting M mun hc, hc li, hay dy con cháu ca h ngn ng Vit, mt gia tài vn hóa c truyn và vô giá ca dân tc Vit Nam, mt cách d dàng. Hn th na, cun sách song ng khiêm tn ny dùng c hai ngn ng Vit và M dy khôn ngoan và cách sng cho có o c và cho úng o làm ngi.