Meaning & Analysis
A jest that tells the truth is no joke; when a ‘joke’ speaks plain truth, it ceases to be harmless fun.
Insights
Truth’s sting
Humor that lands because it is accurate inflicts a real wound; laughter becomes a scalpel that cuts into reputation and self-image.
Satire as judgment
A ‘true jest’ functions like a verdict: by exposing genuine vice or folly, it stops being play and becomes moral censure.
Social risk of candor
Using banter to smuggle truth courts backlash; the speaker cannot hide behind levity once the target recognizes themselves.
Blurred boundaries
The line between wit and insult collapses when facts are involved: entertainment shades into accusation, and mirth into malice.
Lexical root
‘Sooth’ means truth; ‘bourd’ (Scots/ME) means jest. The proverb’s compact contrast signals that content (truth) can transform genre (jest) into rebuke.
Polite cruelty
Communities often cloak criticism as play. This maxim unmasks the tactic: when the barb is accurate, the target feels judged, not entertained.
Theatrical caution
Stage moralists warn ‘beware your true jests’: comedy that names real faults breaks convivial truce and can ignite quarrels or censorship.
Cognitive dissonance
A ‘true jest’ forces unwelcome self-recognition. Guilty ears amplify the hurt, turning laughter into a mirror people would rather smash than face.
Proverbial family
Related sayings—‘True jests are the worst,’ ‘There’s many a true word spoken in jest’—map a spectrum from useful truth-telling to socially dangerous candor.
Rhetorical Devices
Paradox
Calls a jest ‘no jest’ once it is true, jolting expectations and highlighting the moral weight of accuracy.
Antithesis
Opposes ‘sooth’ (truth) to ‘bourd’ (jest), sharpening the threshold where play turns serious.
Aphoristic negation
The blunt ‘is no’ gives categorical force, converting witty observation into rule.
Archaism
Old words (‘sooth,’ ‘bourd’) lend gnomic gravity and a northern/Scots flavor that marks the saying as traditional wisdom.
Ellipsis
Leaves unspecified whose faults are named, inviting application to gossip, satire, and quarrels alike.
Transcription
Quotations
It is yll iestyng on the soothe. Soth bourd is no bourd, in ought that myrth dooth.
(As the old saying is, Sooth).
'Ware your true jests, Mr. Compasse.
(A sooth bourd).
Spoken when People reflect too satyrically upon the real Vices, Follies, and Miscarriages of their Neighbours.
Cross References
Annotations
- jest
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.