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You'll notice that I didn't mention Whacko Jacko even once.
Dear Word Detective: I have a dilemma. I have a paper due in English class in a few months about the old proverb "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face." I have gathered so far what it means, but can find no information about it's origin or where it came from or who first used it and why. I have read on different websites that is of Japanese origin and that it is also of French origin. Could you please help me? -- Seeking-an-A.
A few months? Where's the fun in that? You'll find your paper much more exciting to write if you do it the way professional writers do -- wait until the night before your deadline and then drink a half-gallon of coffee. As Samuel Johnson, pioneering lexicographer and a guy who knew a bit about deadlines, put it back in 1777, "Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully." Trust me, it works even better when you're down to six hours. You'll discover an eloquence (not to mention a talent for invention) you never knew you possessed.
As I'm sure you've discovered by now, "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning not to act out of pique or pursue revenge in such a way as to damage yourself more than the object of your anger. It's not a good idea, for example, to express your (entirely understandable) distaste for the sorry state of broadcast journalism today by tossing your TV set out the window. Peter Jennings couldn't care less, and you'll miss The Simpsons until you buy another set.
The precise origin of "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is slightly fuzzy, but it seems to have first appeared around 1200 as a Latin proverb cited by Peter of Blois, a French poet of the day. The phrase then crops up a bit later in a history of France, written in the mid-17th century, attributed to a courtier who supposedly employed it to deter King Henry IV from destroying Paris to punish the occupants' low opinion of his rule. The proverb apparently didn't really become popular in English until the 19th century.
Since the advice contained in ""Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is good, it's not surprising that similar proverbs have been popular in other languages and cultures, including the Chinese ""Do not burn down your own house even to annoy your wife's mother."
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Og her kan du finde yderliger forklaringer på at det betyder sådan
http://www.google.dk/search?hl=da&q=don%27t+cut+off+your+nose+to+spite+your+face&btnG=Google-s%C3%B8gning&meta=
mvh dova