The Old Adage

I was thinking the other day about some of the sayings I learned as a child, and how often I refer to them today. 

That got me to thinking about whether children today are even taught these old adages any more? I know that things like nursery rhymes and fairy tales are not quite as popular as they once were. 

As I began to make a list of the old sayings I remembered, I tried to think of what was the proper term for these sayings. Adages? Idiom? Proverb?

I’m going with the term adage.

An adage is defined as “ a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.”

Now the reason I think it’s important to teach these adages to the next generation is that the truths that they convey are timeless. They also help to impart a set of moral standards that at one time were unquestionable. 

I’m wondering if just learning these adages alone could help someone to make better decisions and choices in their life? Would these adages ever really steer you wrong? So starting tomorrow I’m going to do a little series in this next month about some of the tried and true, and hopefully familiar adages of my generation’s childhood. 

Nothing like , “ Striking while the iron is hot.”