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Random Thoughts

OLD SAYINGS SAY IT ALL

“Little pitchers have big ears.” That’s what one of the grownups would invariable say when I was little and their talk turned to something they didn’t want me to hear.

I'd always assumed this old saying belonged to my family alone. So I was surprised, and a little offended, to hear a stranger say it. “Little pitchers have big ears.”

Hearing it again, I reflected on the words and it occurred to me pitchers don’t have anything that could be called ears. Many ancient amphorae had two handles that could be called ear-like, but they didn’t say amphorae. They clearly said pitchers.

Maybe pitchers wasn’t the right word. I suppose it could have been pictures – I had a few relatives who mispronounced the word. But pictures don’t have ears either. So did they mean the people in little pictures had inordinately large ears. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be unkind to not only say it but turn it into a maxim?

“Root hog, or die.” Now there’s a better one. It gets right down to where we live.