Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is proverbs 163. The proverb today is " time and tide wait
for no man. Okay. Let's look at the note here. You may also possibly hear this
proverb as time and tide stay for no man or you may hear it as time and tide
tarry for no man. All right. A little bit of an old use. Tarry means to stay longer
or dawdle or kind of waste too much time. Okay. Let's continue. This proverb is
often used as a warning that time will not wait for you. You only have so much
time to make decisions and get important things done. If you wait too long or
procrastinate opportunities may be lost. It could also be used to suggest that
human events and behavior cannot stop time or cannot change time. Okay. Let's
continue. The earliest known sighting comes from
around twelve hundred and twenty five. And I think Chaucer then used it in the
1300s too, but they say that the time and tide, the original ... the original quote
time and tide , the original tide was not actually for the sea tide, the original
tide had to do with time. So let's go over this. At that time, the word tide also
meant time as like in a season. Like nowadays we ... around Christmas we always
hear the word "Yuletide. " You know, I always wondered Yuletide ? Where did that come
from ? But the tide in Yuletide actually refers to time or like a season. Like the
Christmas season. Okay. So as in a season or special period. The term , Yuletide.
Good tidings, we often say that. That's also in a Christmas song you know , like you
know , wishing somebody good times. Tides were also used in the days of
sundials. You know, the early days like you know, around ten hundred, eleven
hundred , twelve hundred around this time. Yeah. And each was considered to be three
hours. I think originally when they using time back then, because they didn't
have watches yet. And of course no electricity. So they were using sundials
and I think they also paid attention to the tide coming in and out, in a way of
judging time too. So there is a little bit of a connection there. They were also
used for days. They were considered to be three hours. So a tide was was three
hours and the working day was supposedly broken into four tides. So that's why we
had ... there used to be words like even tide, even, even tied meaning like the evening
tide or the noontide you know, around twelve o'clock.
Something like that. So it really did relate to to time. At that time , but some later
think this use could also be related to to tides in a way, due to another story.
From the story of King Canute. He lived from 995 to 1035 ad and he was the king
of what is our modern-day England Denmark and Norway. That's kind of
interesting. According to the story, the king tried to teach his subjects
that even a king has limited power. You know and he did this actually by, by
commanding the sea and the tides to stop. So he knew the sea tides will not listen
to him, but this was his way of teaching them that you know even a king only has
so much power. So he wasn't doing , doing in an arrogant way, he was doing it in a way
to actually teach them. Okay. Good. All right. Well but anyway. So this is ... this
is some of the origins of where it comes from. But you know, either way it really
means it's always used as a warning that you know, time is limited. You , you have to
act. You have to make up your decision and do things. All right. So let's look at
a couple of examples here. You need to decide if you are going to do this or
not. Don't wait too long. Time and tide wait
for no man. Okay. That's one way we might use it. Or the second one here. We always believe
in addressing issues right away. Time and tide waits for no man.
Okay. Anyway this is the way we might use it . I hope you got it. I hope it was clear, Thank
you for your time. Bye-bye.