Wellerism

Wellerisms, named after Sam Weller in Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, make fun of established clichés and proverbs by showing that they are wrong in certain situations, often when taken literally. In this sense, wellerisms that include proverbs are a type of anti-proverb. Typically a Wellerism consists of three parts: a proverb or saying, a speaker, and an often humorously literal explanation.

Some researchers concentrate on wellerisms found in English and European languages, but Alan Dundes documented them in the Yoruba language of Nigeria (Dundes 1964), with African scholars confirming and adding to his findings (Ojoade 1980, Opata 1988, 1990). They are also found in ancient Sumerian: "The fox, having urinated into the sea, said: 'The depths of the sea are my urine!'"

A special format for Wellerisms called a Tom Swifty incorporates a punning adverb that modifies the manner in which the statement was related.

Examples

• "Everyone to his own taste," the old woman said when she kissed her cow.
• "We'll have to rehearse that," said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car.
• A body can get used to anything, even to being hanged, as the Irishman said. (Lucy Maud Montgomery--Anne of Green Gables)
• "This week is beginning splendidly," said one who was to be hanged on Monday.
• "Much noise and little wool," said the Devil when he sheared a pig.
• "So I see," said the blind carpenter as he picked up his hammer and saw.
• "Simply remarkable," said the teacher when asked her opinion about the new dry-erase board.

Wellerisms occur in languages other than English. Here are two Dutch examples:

• "Alle beetjes helpen", zei de mug en hij pieste in zee.

(English: Every little bit helps, said the gnat and it pissed in the sea.)

• Compare: Every little bit helps said the old woman as she pissed in the ocean.

• "Alles met mate", zei de kleermaker en hij sloeg zijn vrouw met de el.

(English: "Everything should be done measuredly," said the tailor and he hit his wife with a ruler.)

And a Hebrew example:

• "Nikh'ye ve-Nir'e", amar ha-Iver la-Met.

(English: "We shall live and then see", said the blind man to the dead.)

• Compare: "I see, said the blind man"

See also

• Paraprosdokian

Bibliography

• Dundes, Alan. 1964. Some Yoruba wellerisms, dialogue proverbs, and tongue twisters. Folklore 75.
• Mieder, Wolfgang and Stewart A. Kingsbury, eds. Dictionary of Wellerisms, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
• Mieder, Wolfgang, American Proverbs: A Study of Texts and Contexts (New York: Lang, 1989).
• Mieder, Wolfgang, Proverbs Are Never Out of Season: Popular Wisdom in the Modern Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
• Ojoade, J. O. 1980. Some Ilaje wellerisms. Folklore 75 91.1:63-71.
• Opata, Damian. 1988. Personal attribution in Wellerisms. International Folklore Review 6:39-41.
• Opata, Damian. 1990. Characterization in animal-derived wellerisms: some selected Igbo examples. Proverbium 7:217-231.
• Taylor, Archer, The Proverb (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931).
• Taylor, Archer, The Proverb, and An Index to The Proverb (Hatboro, PA: Folklore Associates, 1962)
• Williams, Fionnuala Carson. 2001. Proverbs in wellerisms. Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 52.1:177-189.