A friend in need...

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 07 November 2007 17:47:28

...is a pain in the a**e.

Actually, I do not believe this. (Well, not ALL the time, if I'm brutally honest.) However, it shows that I am not the only one to have possibly misunderstood the proverb - 'A friend in need is a friend indeed'.

Until recently, I read this as meaning that a friend who is in need is going to stick pretty close, as they could really do with the help. Whilst this is often true, I have come to think that it is not what the saying is trying to - er - say. I now understand this as meaning that someone who proves themself to be your friend when you are in need is a true friend (indeed!)

That conclusion is slightly less cynical and much more noble. I think I prefer it.