As They Say In Zanzibar. David Crystal

first thing to do is stop digging USA

      3 A red-nosed man may not be a drinker, but he will find nobody to believe it CHINA

      4 You can’t find a thing except in the place it is IRELAND

      5 Three sorts of people are always to be found, soldiers, professors, and women GERMANY

      6 In the choicest vase are found the ugliest cracks CHINA

      7 The paddle which you find in the canoe is the one that will take you across LIBERIA

      8 Even in the freshest of milk you will still find hairs MALI

      9 Don’t hold the dime so near your eye that you can’t see the dollar USA

62 HOME – ABROAD

      1 Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense CHINA

      2 Who knows the language is at home everywhere NETHERLANDS

      3 Don’t shuck your corn till the hogs come home USA

      4 Chickens come home to roost ENGLAND

      5 Pilgrims seldom come home saints GERMANY

      6 Send your charity abroad wrapped in blankets ENGLAND

      7 If you haven’t much to do, start cleaning your own backyard USA

      8 Slowly but surely the excrement of foreign poets will come to your village MALI

      9 The crossroads always confuse the stranger NIGERIA

      10 There is no bridge without a place the other side of it WALES

      11 Go abroad and you’ll hear news of home ENGLAND

      12 The toughest broncs is always them you’ve rode some other place USA7 CHILDREN PLAY WITH PROVERBSProverbs become a part of children’s linguistic consciousness quite early in life. This is partly because of their frequency in everyday domestic conversation and partly because they are quite commonly mentioned in children’s story-books. As a result, children play with proverbs as they do with every other aspect of language.Teachers can rely on this experience to help develop their students’ linguistic awareness. One teacher gave a class of seven-year-olds a list of proverbs, left out the final word or phrase, and asked them to finish it off in their own way. Here are some of the results.As you make your bed so you must … mess it up.Don’t bite the hand that … looks dirty.You can’t teach an old dog new … maths.Where there’s smoke, there’s … pollution.A penny saved is … not much.Children should be seen and not … grounded.SEE ALSO Adults play with proverbs

      13 Buzzards do not sing in bleak regions PERU

      14 Keep your chickens in your own backyard USA

      15 Don’t stand by the water and long for fish; go home and weave a net CHINA

      16 One sits best on one’s own bench NORWAY

      17 The saints of the home work no miracles ITALY

      18 When the cat’s not home, the mice jump on the table NETHERLANDS

      19 Charity begins at home ENGLAND

      20 The clock ticks nowhere as it ticks at home NETHERLANDS

      21 Home is where the heart is ENGLAND

63 COUNTRIES

      1 The hyena of your own country does not break your bones KENYA

      2 All countries are frontiers SOUTH AFRICA

      3 It is easy to lie about a far-off country ETHIOPIA

      4 Old countries don’t disappear overnight; they stay for breakfast EGYPT

      5 It is a fine thing to die for one’s fatherland, but a still finer thing to live for it HUNGARY

      6 Fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts LATIN

      7 The skin creaks according to the country ETHIOPIA

      8 All the keys in the land do not hang from one girdle SCOTLAND

64 CITIES – TOWNS – VILLAGES

      1 Do not dwell in a city where a horse does not neigh nor a dog bark ENGLAND

      2 Courteous asking breaks even city walls UKRAINE

      3 You may read Pompeii in some people’s faces ITALY

      4 When in Rome do as the Romans do ENGLAND

      5 Those who wish to live at Rome must not quarrel with the pope FRANCE

      6 All roads lead to Rome ENGLAND

      7 Rome was not built in a day ENGLAND

      8 Not everyone can be the pope of Rome NETHERLANDS

      9 He who never leaves Paris will never be pope FRANCE

      10 The town that parleys is half surrendered FRANCE

      11 The moon moves slowly, but it gets across the town CÔTE D’IVOIRE

      12 The village that can be seen needs no signpost ALBANIA

      13 Don’t snap your fingers at the dogs before you are outside the village FRANCE

      14 It is not good to be the poet of a village GERMANY

      15 Obey the customs of the village you enter JAPAN

      16 Who goes around the village long enough will get either a dog-bite or a dinner SERBIA

      17 A village in sight does not require a guide TURKEY

      18 The medicine man is not esteemed in his own village KENYA

      19 It takes a whole village to raise one child NIGERIA

      20 Slowly but surely the excrement of foreign poets will come to your village MALI

      21 The hindermost ox also reaches the kraal SOUTH AFRICA

65 WHERE TO LIVE

      1 A little nest is warmer than a big nest IRELAND

      2 Empty barns need no thatch ENGLAND

      3 Ability and necessity dwell in the same cabin NETHERLANDS

      4 Every priest praises his convent PHILIPPINES

      5 Don’t praise a cottage in which you haven’t yet slept SOUTH AFRICA

      6 You cannot catch a tiger cub unless you enter the tiger’s den JAPAN

      7 When an old barn begins to burn, it is hard to put out NETHERLANDS

      8 It is the hyenas of the same den that hate one another KENYA

      9 A hundred men may make an encampment, but it needs a woman to make a home CHINA

      10 Draw the snake from its hole by someone else’s hand SPAIN

      11 A skunk smells its own hole first USA

      12 Beware of old streets and new inns GERMANY

      13 Better keep under an old hedge than creep under a new furze-bush ENGLAND

      14 Never follow a beast into its lair SOUTH AFRICA

      15 Insects do not nest in a busy door-hinge CHINA

      16 Every cabin has its mosquito JAMAICA

      17 Two crocodiles don’t live in one pond GAMBIA

      18 An artist lives everywhere ENGLAND

      19 A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den CHINA

      20 Those who wish to live at Rome must not quarrel with the pope FRANCE

      21 Goats cannot live in a herd of leopards MALI

      22 All hillbillies don’t live in the hills CANADA

      23 A full cabin is better than an empty castle IRELAND

      24 A chattering bird builds no nest CAMEROON

      25 It is a cunning mouse which nests in the cat’s ear ENGLAND

      26 You