A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

On SAINT Thomas the Divine kill all turkeys, geese, and swine
The feast-day of St. Thomas the Apostle has been traditionally celebrated on 21 December in the West.

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  1742 Agreeable Companion 59 Thomas Divine, Brewing and Baking, and Killing of Swine. 1846 M. A. DENHAM Proverbs relating to Seasons, &c. 64 The day of St. Thomas, the blessed divine, Is good for brewing, baking, and killing fat swine. 1979 C. MORSLEY News from English Countryside 164 This couplet reminded farmers of the day on which they should make their last slaughters for the Christmas table. On St. Thomas the Divine Kill all turkeys, geese and swine. ■ calendar lore
  

saint see also the DEVIL was sick, the Devil a saint would be.. ; the GREATER the sinner, the greater the saint; YOUNG saint, old devil.
Help you to SALT, help you to sorrow

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  1666 G. TORRIANO Italian Proverbs 245 At table, one ought not to present any one, either salt, or the head of any creature. 1872 J. GLYDE Norfolk Garland i. The spilling of salt is very ominous, and the proverb is well known: Help me to salt, Help me to sorrow. 1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise xxxvi. No one would at table spoon salt on to another person’s plate, for ‘Help you to salt, help you to sorrow’. 1969 ‘S. MAYS’ Reuben’s Corner xiv. There was no end to the prohibitions we learned as youngsters... Never help anyone to salt: Help you to salt, help you to sorrow. ■ misfortune; superstition
  

Saturday see Monday’s CHILD is fair of face.
What’s SAUCE for the goose is sauce for the gander
What is suitable for a woman is suitable for a man. The proverb is also occasionally used in non-sexist contexts.

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  1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 98 That that’s good sawce for a goose, is good for a gander. ..This is a woman’s Proverb. 1692 R. L’ESTRANGE Fables of Aesop cccii. Sauce for a Goose is Sauce for a Gander. 1894 BLACKMORE Perly-cross III. v. A proverb of large equity.. declares.. that ‘sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’. This maxim is pleasant enough to the goose. 2002 National Review 28 Jan. 39 To buttress his case, the Russian leader pointed out that NATO itself had recently insisted that Macedonia implement this same principle in behalf of its Albanian ethnic minority. What was sauce for the Albanian goose was sauce for the Baltic gander. «men and women