old saw

English

Etymology

From Middle English olde sawe, old sawe, equivalent to old + saw (“a saying or proverb”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Australian):

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Noun

old saw (plural old saws)

1. (idiomatic) A cliché, saying, or overused expression, especially a proverb or maxim.

   Synonyms: old chestnut; see also Thesaurus:saying

   He's full of old saws, but he's not much for original advice.

   • 2010 March 20, James Campbell, “Barry Miles: 'I think of the 60s as a supermarket of ideas. We were looking for new ways to live'”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Never believe the old saw, "If you can remember the Sixties, you weren't really there". Barry Miles remembers the 60s in vivid detail, down to the dress with "zebra stripes" that George Martin's wife wore at a dinner party given by Paul McCartney and Jane Asher in 1967, and he certainly was there.

   • 2017, Andrew Marantz, "Becoming Steve Bannon's Bannon", The New Yorker, Feb 13&20 ed.

     There’s an old saw about Washington, D.C., that staffers in their twenties know more about the minutiae of government than their bosses do.

   • 2022 October 16, Jenna Scherer, “An enticing House Of The Dragon crowns Westeros' new ruler”, in AV Club‎^[2]:

     Cooke and Eve Best deliver a verbal showdown that’s twice as thrilling as the Kingsguard swordfight. Alicent brings out all the old saws: Supporting Rhaenyra has left Rhaenys with two dead children, bastards for grandsons, and a grievously wounded husband. “We do not rule, but we may guide the men who do,” the queen finishes.

Translations

old saying, conventional wisdom, often based in superstitions

• Dutch: gezegde (nl)
• Finnish: vanha sanonta
• French: dicton (fr) m, adage (fr) m, expression éculée f
• Galician: dito (gl)
• German: Bauernregel (de) f (weather lore), alter Spruch m, olle Kamelle f, alter Hut m
• Polish: stare porzekadło n
• Swedish: talesätt (sv) n

Anagrams

• Oswald, dowlas, waldos