Meaning & Analysis
Someone who is overly fearful of trivial embarrassments or mishaps will have to take extreme measures—such as going a great distance to urinate—just to avoid minor discomforts.
Insights
Oversensitivity
The proverb humorously points out that excessive caution or sensitivity to minor issues results in unnecessary inconvenience or complication.
Fear of Judgment
It also underscores the self-defeating nature of being preoccupied with others’ opinions about small, natural human faults.
Historical and Social Commentary
Early modern humor used bodily functions to satirize human folly and hypocrisy. Here, the proverb lampoons those whose anxiety over trivial social faux pas makes life needlessly difficult.
Psychological Reflection
The saying captures a basic psychological insight: those who allow fear or embarrassment over small matters to dominate their actions end up restricting their own freedom and comfort.
Universal Resonance
Comparable proverbs exist across cultures, warning against the absurdities of excessive prudishness or the impossibility of living without ever risking social blunders.
Rhetorical Devices
Hyperbole
The proverb exaggerates the inconvenience (having to go 'far to piss') to illustrate its point humorously and vividly.
Irony
There is an ironic twist in showing how efforts to avoid embarrassment only increase it, mocking the excessive prudence it describes.
Colloquialism
The use of frank, everyday language for bodily functions lends the proverb a down-to-earth, relatable quality.
Transcription
Quotations
Nay, I warrant ye They that will be afrayde of every farte Must go farre to pisse.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.