{"id":83227,"date":"2015-03-02T17:11:13","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T22:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=83227"},"modified":"2015-03-02T17:11:13","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T22:11:13","slug":"folk-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/02\/folk-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Folk Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Unalion\"<\/a>

Briton Rivi\u00e8re, Una and Lion<\/i>, nineteenth century.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIn like a lion, out like a lamb\u201d has always seemed a straightforward enough proverb: when March starts, it\u2019s still winter, and by the end of the month spring has begun. True, in many climates the weather hasn\u2019t quite reached the lamb stage by the end of the month\u2014it\u2019s more like a surly cat, maybe, or one of those awful territorial honking geese. But we get the idea. I have seen the phrase referred to as an \u201ceighteenth-century saying\u201d in more than one unreliable Internet source, while Wikipedia calls it \u201can old Pennsylvania\u201d saw.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, there are a few origin theories. There\u2019s the stars<\/a>, for one. At this time of year, Leo is the rising sign; by April, it\u2019s Aries. (\u201cKid\u201d just doesn\u2019t have quite the same ring as \u201clamb,\u201d though.)\u00a0Some<\/a> have pointed out that Jesus arrives as the sacrificial lamb, but will return as the Lion of Judah. Which, weather-wise, means a false spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the earliest citations is in one Thomas Fuller\u2019s 1732 compendium,\u00a0Gnomologia:\u00a0Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British<\/a><\/em>. The authors give the wording as \u201cComes in like a Lion, goes out like a Lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the book has several excellent March proverbs, which don\u2019t seem to have had the same lasting power:<\/p>\n

\n

So many mists in March you see \/ So many frosts in May will be.<\/p>\n

A Peck of March-Dust, and a Shower in May \/ Makes the Corn green, and the Fields gay.<\/p>\n

March many-Weathers rain\u2019d and blow\u2019d \/ But March grass never did good.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I suppose we can see why that last one didn\u2019t catch on. You can just imagine a group of old farmers or alewives sitting around and spinning seasonal proverbs of a winter evening. And then they get to that one\u2014let\u2019s call him Yeoman Goode\u2014and he kind of panics, and that comes out, and there\u2019s radio silence.<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn like a lion, out like a lamb\u201d has always seemed a straightforward enough proverb: when March starts, it\u2019s still winter, and by the end of the month spring has begun. True, in many climates the weather hasn\u2019t quite reached the lamb stage by the end of the month\u2014it\u2019s more like a surly cat, maybe, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[17235,17237,14326,13856,10241,16874,17234,16309,6525,17236,10033],"class_list":["post-83227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-adages","tag-gnomologia","tag-lambs","tag-lions","tag-march","tag-phrases","tag-sayings","tag-seasons","tag-spring","tag-thomas-fuller","tag-winter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhere Does \u201cIn Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb\u201d Originate?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on the adage\u2019s uncertain origins.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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