MAIN PIECE

“No fool like an old fool”

“We say this kinda thing when people get a bit ruckus and they’ve always been that way.  The way me and my friends used it was when somebody was  doing wrong and we’d talk about how they would get their [karma] one day.”

BACKGROUND

This informant, MS, comes from Aberdeen, Scotland and has lived there for all of her life, except for a few years she spent in London.   She’s from the silent generation and has grown up with many Scottish sayings that she’s heard and seen gone out of style.  Although she says this one isn’t as popular anymore, it is still said among the older communities.

CONTEXT

I invited MS, my great grandmother, to talk with me after a family reunion zoom call.  A few days later, we got together and we live streamed a rerun of Strictly Come Dancing over zoom and during the commercial breaks, we talked over some  folklore from her life in Scotland, specifically from her childhood in Aberdeen.

THOUGHTS

It’s great to hear such a prominent saying about old fools, because in the United States, I believe we tend to hear about young fools more.  I believe that this statement is definitely an insult of sorts, as well as a great proverb that is meant to teach  people that the biggest kind of fool there is is one who does not learn from their mistakes.