The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (606 page)

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Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

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A WHISTLING woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men
1721
Scottish Proverbs
33
A crooning cow, a crowing Hen and a whistling Maid boded never luck to a House. The two first are reckoned ominous, but the Reflection is on the third.
1850
Notes & Queries
1st Ser. II. 164
A whistling woman and a crowing hen, Is neither fit for God nor men.
1891
Beast & Man
ii.
‘A whistling woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men,’ is a mild English saying.
1917
Cheshire Proverbs
28
A whistling woman and a crowing hen will fear the old lad [the Devil] out of his den.
1933
Farmer Boy
xi.
Royal teased her, Whistling girls and crowing hens Always come to some bad ends.
1981
Kate Greenaway
i.
Mary was .. always ready with a relevant proverb ‘a whistling woman and a crowing hen, are neither good for God nor men.’
1995
Endangered Pleasures
116
I was the wrong sex. Boys whistled … As grandomothers used to say,
A whistling girl and a crowing hen Both will come to a bad end
.
women

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