Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Proverbs 187. The proverb today is " many a true word
is spoken in jest. " All right. jest of course means joking, fooling around, you
know, trying to make a joke. Something like that. Okay. So let's a look at the
note here. The proverb could also be rephrased as "there's many a true word
spoken in jest." So you might hear it either way. Either many a true word
spoken in jest or there's many a word spoken in jest. Okay. Let's continue. The
proverb basically means many things told as jokes are true or have a lot of truth
to them. Even though they're funny and even though they may seem like just a
joke but a lot of times what might even make them funny is that there is a
certain amount of truth to them. Well, let's continue. The origin may go back as
far as 1390 in Geoffrey Chaucer's ... Yeah. we get a lot of hope you know, origins
coming from him. You know, " The Cook's Tale. " So all the way
back to 1390. He expresses the idea but not the exact proverb. Here is his quote.
"A man may say full sooth. " Now remember in 1390, the English was a little different.
So 'sooth' meant the truth. So " a man may say full sooth' or the truth' in game and
play.' Like in fooling around. So this is the first place where we could kind of
find this almost the same exact idea but not the same words. Shakespeare again,
repeats the idea in his play" King Lear. " Here is his quote. " Jesters' you know , they
were there like the clowns or the Joker's of the court. "Jesters do prove
prophet." So they ... a lot of the things that they say as a joke either
you know, come true or are true. But again the earliest citing close to our
modern-day form of the proverb comes from volume seven of the Roxburghe
Ballads in the 17th century. And here's quote from that. "That many a
true word hath been spoken in jest. " Remember hath means like has. It is the verb of
have. This is very, very close. This is ... you can almost say this is the first
true form of the proverb as we have it today. All right. Anyway let's look at some
examples of how this proverb will be used in regular conversation today. So
let's look at the first one h as an a/b part. And of course A says why did you make
that remark ? Do you really think I am selfish ? And B says I was only joking you
know this is what they say all the time. So A actually sounds like a woman and
B sounds like a guy. Don't take it so seriously.
And then she might say , I think you must think that. And I think that's the way
you really think. Many a true word is spoken in jest. So they may repeat it in
that sense. Meaning that even though you're saying that a joke, you must think
that. That's what maybe the truth is that you really think that. Or number two here.
The reason why many people enjoy political satire ... remember political
satire that's when comedians or somebody makes jokes to try to make certain
politicians or something look like fools but a lot of times they're picking on
some things that is ... there's some truth to it. If it's not completely true, is
because many a true word is spoken in jest. So they're making a joke out of it.
But again, the reason why it's funny is because there at least some people think
there's some truth to it. All right. Number three here. I know she
said that she wasn't serious but aren't you afraid she might be considering suicide ?
Maybe she was just saying that oh I'm going to kill myself.
Maybe, maybe A is really worried that maybe, maybe she really means it. And B he
says no she's just joking don't worry. And A says I'm not so sure. Many a true
word is spoken in jest. All right. Well this is the way you might hear this ,
this proverb used. Anyway , I hope you got it. I hope it is clear. Thank you for your time.
Bye-bye.