Perverbs
| No. of Players: | 1+ |
| Type of Game: | written or spoken |
| What you need: | pen & paper or nothing |
Goal
To create silly proverbs.
How to play
A perverb is a perversion of a (usually well-known) proverb. There are many ways to play this game. For instance, players can take the first part of a proverb and add it to the second part of another proverb, to arrive at something absurd like this: "Absence makes the heart come home to roost."
A second game asks players to take the first part of a proverb and then finish it in whatever crazy way they desire, like this: "Discretion is the better part of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
A third game challenges players to improve upon a proverb, perhaps scientifically like so: "The proof of the pudding comes not from the eating, but on the tests nutritionists run in the laboratory to ensure it is up to FDA standards."
Finally, players can make up entirely absurd sayings which nevertheless sound like they could be serious proverbs, like this: "Never look outside without opening your eyes first."
Example
Argus challenges his fellow players to mix and match proverbs to see who can come up with the wackiest results.
| Barbie: | Better late than to rust out. |
| Carleen: | Best things in life are better than one. |
| Argus: | While the cat's away, the luckier you get. |
| Barbie: | Curiosity killed the best policy. |
| Carleen: | Laughter is on the other side of the fence. |
| Argus: | There is no time to be wise after the event. |
| Barbie: | The squeaky wheel gets to tango. |
| Carleen: | No news is the best policy. |
And so on.
Did you know?
The world's oldest surviving written text appears to be a set of proverbs. These Instructions of Shuruppak were engraved in cuneiform script on clay tablets and were given by the last king of Sumer to his son over 4,600 years ago.
Indeed they read like an older, wiser man imparting fatherly advice – and in two distinct directions. For instance, one is given practical warnings, like how not to locate a field on a road. But one is also given moral and philosophical advice, like how not to speak arrogantly to one's mother, how not to pass judgment when one drinks beer, and how "Fate is a wet bank; it can make one slip."
