Meaning & Analysis
An eel's skin is coated in mucus, making it physically slippery and extremely difficult to hold or catch by hand.
Insights
Evasiveness and Deceit
The proverb is a powerful metaphor for a person who is evasive, deceitful, and cannot be trusted. They are difficult to hold to their word or to any form of accountability.
Instability and Unpredictability
It describes a situation or concept that is unstable, unpredictable, and hard to comprehend or control. As one quotation notes, fortune itself can be 'as slipperie as an Eele'.
Skillful Evasion
The comparison can refer to someone who is adept at escaping difficult situations or avoiding blame. Their 'slipperiness' allows them to navigate trouble without being caught.
Natural Symbolism
The eel, a creature of the water, has long symbolized elusiveness and the subconscious. Its physical slipperiness provides a potent, universally understood metaphor for anything that defies a firm grasp, from a deceitful person to the fickle nature of fortune itself.
Psychological Frustration
This proverb taps into the primal frustration of attempting to control the uncontrollable. The visceral, tactile image of an eel slipping from one's grasp translates directly to the psychological experience of dealing with an evasive or untrustworthy individual, making the abstract concept of deceit tangible.
Cultural Bias
The cross-reference 'Who has a woman has an eel by the tail' reveals a significant cultural bias, historically equating female nature with inherent untrustworthiness and elusiveness. This highlights how proverbs can both reflect and reinforce societal prejudices.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The phrase is a classic simile, using 'as' to create a direct, vivid comparison that is easily understood and remembered.
Tactile Imagery
The proverb's effectiveness lies in its strong tactile imagery. It evokes the physical sensation of trying to grasp something that is smooth, wet, and actively squirming, making the abstract idea of elusiveness concrete.
Symbolism
The eel serves as a powerful, concise symbol for the broader concepts of untrustworthiness, evasion, and instability.
Transcription
Quotations
And coryd [curried] tyll he be slyke as an ele.
Brittle beautie . . slipper in sliding as is an eles taile.
Take tyme when tyme cumth, asay to be bolde of it, But slyper as an eeles tayle is the holde of it.
My horse . . has a buttock as slick as an eel.
All that be long and slipperie, as yeeles and Congres.
Fie vpon giddie Fortune, and her wheele, Vnconstant, and as slipperie as an Eele.
He is as slippery as an eel, in love.
Slippery as an Eele.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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