Every Confidant Has a Confidant

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Administrator (previously Architect)
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English

Item (direct transcription):

Every confidant has a confidant.

Background Information:

The informant learned the proverb from her father.

To her, the proverb means to be careful who you confide in.

Contextual Information:

The informant says she would use this proverb to warn someone against confiding in someone dubious.

Analysis:

This saying meets three out of the four canonical criteria for a proverb. It is (1) short, (2) fixed-phrase, and (3) rhetorical. However, it is not metaphorical—in fact, it’s meaning is quite literal.

Also, like many proverbs, it’s phrasing is somewhat poetic due to the repetition of the word “confidant” in such a short phrase.