Meaning & Analysis
If you live in close proximity to a person with a limp, you will eventually begin to imitate their way of walking, either consciously or unconsciously.
Insights
Corruption by Association
The proverb is a powerful metaphor for the corrupting influence of bad company. It argues that prolonged association with people who have moral or behavioral flaws will inevitably lead one to adopt those same flaws.
Social Contagion
It illustrates the concept of social contagion, where habits, vices, and attitudes spread through proximity. Just as one might 'catch' a mannerism, one can also absorb negative behaviors from their social environment.
Normalization of Flaws
The proverb highlights how constant exposure can normalize negative traits. A 'flaw' that is always present in one's environment may cease to be seen as a flaw and instead become an accepted, and ultimately imitated, behavior.
Environmental Influence
It serves as a cautionary tale about the power of environment in shaping character. It implies that personal virtue is not strong enough to resist the constant, subtle influence of one's surroundings.
Historical Attitudes and Bias
The proverb reflects a pre-modern tendency to conflate physical disability with moral or character defects, using a physical ailment as a direct metaphor for a vice. Its inclusion in Erasmus's Adagia confirms its classical lineage and intellectual currency during the Renaissance.
Psychological Underpinnings
This proverb serves as a powerful illustration of social learning theory and the psychological principle of unconscious mimicry (the 'chameleon effect'), where individuals subconsciously adopt the behaviors, habits, and attitudes of those in their immediate environment.
Contemporary Relevance
The proverb's warning against negative association remains potent. In a modern context, 'halting' can be interpreted as adopting bad professional habits, absorbing cynical attitudes, or conforming to the negative norms of a social or online group.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The physical act of 'halting' serves as a potent and visceral metaphor for acquiring a moral or behavioral defect from an associate.
Conditional Structure
The proverb's structure ('If... then...') creates a clear, memorable statement of cause and effect, strengthening its didactic and cautionary tone.
Hyperbole
The statement is an exaggeration, as one would not literally learn to limp. This hyperbole emphasizes the irresistible and pervasive power of social influence.
Transcription
Quotations
Si juxta claudum habites, subclaudicare disces.
This prouerbe is vsed: He that dwelleth by a crepyll, shall lerne to halte.
According to the old saying: If thou with him that haltes doest dwell, To learne to halt thou shalt full well.
It is an olde Prouerbe that if one dwell the nexte dore to a creple he wil learne to hault.
Is not he an arrant knave, you next door to a knave, because next door to him?
Who converseth with a Criple, suddenly learns to halt.
Shakespeare Citations
Th'art a knave! —You should have said, sir, ‘Before a knave th’art a knave’; that’s ‘Before me th’art a knave.’ This had been truth, sir.
Cross References
- See DÜr., II, no. 30.
- H60 It is hard (ill) halting before a cripple.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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