As the Saying Was
The kale was up to the beaters' chins, and when they emerged from it after a rather blank drive the keeper observed morosely : " You can't beat the old saying, ' a good, year for roots is a bad year for partridges.' " I suppose we have ceased to produce sayings of this or any other kind. The experience and observa- tion on which they were built matured slowly, and when it crystallised, somewhere, into a phrase, the phrase itself took a long time to travel from mouth to mouth until it had gained at least a regional currency. Today a slogan or a gag can reach the ears of the whole nation overnight. The former are generally coined by government departments or advertisers (" Is Your Journey Really Necessary? " " Guinness is Good for You "), the latter by politicians or comedians (" Safety First," " Peace in our Time," " It's That Man Again "). I sup- pose they are part of the lore of our times, but they have either an impromptu or a prefabricated air and no deep roots in experience. Perhaps, at Harwell or at Alexandra Palace, sayings are being minted that will form part of the heritage of wisdom which our generation will pass on to its successors. But on the whole I suspect that the accumulated wisdom of our race no longer expresses itself in adages. It is not very easy, when you come to think of it, to say what it does express itself in. STRIX
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