Meaning & Analysis
Something is done irregularly, in sudden bursts or episodes, just as a goose is periodically seized by the chills of an ague (fever).
Insights
Irregular Progress
The proverb describes actions or efforts that proceed in unpredictable, uneven spurts—marked by inconsistency rather than steady progress.
Unreliability
It also warns of unreliability—suggesting that things undertaken in this manner lack continuity and are unlikely to yield lasting results.
Historical Symbolism
Ague—a term for malarial fever—was notorious for its intermittent attacks, often visualized through shivering animals. The goose, with its tendency to display dramatic shivers, provided a memorable rural image, linking the proverb to everyday observation in early modern England.
Colloquial Variation
Similar expressions—such as 'by fits and starts, as the hog pisseth'—underscore the universality of the observation: nature itself serves as the basis for commentary on human inconsistency.
Psychological Dimensions
The proverb addresses the psychological reality of fluctuating energy, motivation, or discipline, and its consequences for productivity or reliability.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
Uses a direct comparison—'as an ague takes a goose'—to ground the abstract idea of irregularity in a vivid, sensory image.
Alliteration
The repetition of 'fits' and 'girds' adds rhythm and musicality, aiding memorability.
Colloquialism
The informal, rustic phrasing situates the proverb in the everyday speech of rural and working communities.
Transcription
Quotations
By fits and starts, as the hog pisseth.
(take).
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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