#birds birds birds

shimyereh:

I was looking through the Wiktionary list of translations of “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, and it was interesting to see how many other languages have a similar expression where the type/s of bird is/are specified:

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a pigeon/dove on the roof.”
Czech, Estonian, German, Luxembourgish, Polish, Slovak

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a pigeon/dove on the branch.”
Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a grouse on the knot of a tree.”
Polish

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a falcon on the knot of a tree.”
Polish

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a crow on the fence.”
Romanian

“Better a sparrow today, than a bustard tomorrow.”
Hungarian

“Better an egg today, than a hen tomorrow.”
Friulian, Italian

“Better a hazel grouse in the hand, than ten on the branch.”
Finnish

“Better a titmouse in the hand, than a wood grouse in a tree.”
Latvian

“Better a titmouse in the hand, than a crane in the sky.”
Russian

A friend just informed me that English also has the expression: “A pullet in the pen is worth an hundred in the fen.” I don’t think I’ve heard that one before. I like it.

I was looking through the Wiktionary list of translations of “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, and it was interesting to see how many other languages have a similar expression where the type/s of bird is/are specified:

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a pigeon/dove on the roof.”
Czech, Estonian, German, Luxembourgish, Polish, Slovak

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a pigeon/dove on the branch.”
Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a grouse on the knot of a tree.”
Polish

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a falcon on the knot of a tree.”
Polish

“Better a sparrow in the hand, than a crow on the fence.”
Romanian

“Better a sparrow today, than a bustard tomorrow.”
Hungarian

“Better an egg today, than a hen tomorrow.”
Friulian, Italian

“Better a hazel grouse in the hand, than ten on the branch.”
Finnish

“Better a titmouse in the hand, than a wood grouse in a tree.”
Latvian

“Better a titmouse in the hand, than a crane in the sky.”
Russian

audible-smiles:

my grandma has this 115 year old picture book, and apparently in 1907 they would just let you publish anything