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Jackson6612 Posted 19 years ago
Vocabulary

what does this proverb mean? Success has many fathers, but failure ...

0Hi,02br
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00What does this proverb mean?02br
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01b00''Success has many fathers, but failure gets the mother-in-law.''02b0-
  

Top answer

0This is an offensive joke based on the saying “Success has many fathers”. 02br 02br 02br 02br 00The proverb “Success has many fathers” means that many people have contributed to a successful enterprise, not just the person who is given the credit for it. 02br 02br 02br 00Lil’ Ruby Rose00 0-

— Anonymous

  • 0This is an offensive joke based on the saying “Success has many fathers”.
  • 02br 02br 02br 02br 00The proverb “Success has many fathers” means that many people have contributed to a successful enterprise, not just the person who is given the credit for it.
  • 02br 02br 02br 00Lil’ Ruby Rose00 0-
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17 Answers
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0This is an offensive joke based on the saying “Success has many fathers”. 02br
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00The proverb “Success has many fathers” means that many people have contributed to a successful enterprise, not just the person who is given the credit for it. 00 00For example, Bill Gates’s phenomenal success is not solely due to him – but to other pioneers
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0Hi,02br
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00So does that mean mother-in-law is the cause of failure?0-
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0More that if you are not successful, you end up with a mother-in-law.02br
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00Lil' Ruby Rose0-
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01cite10Jackson661212cite10Hi,12br
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10So does that mean 10mother-in-law is the cause of failure10?12br
12blockquote
11b01font00In this sarcastic paraphrase, yes; take it for what it's worth.02font02b00 0-
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0The full quote is "Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan."02br
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00I have a different take on the meaning from LRR (with all due respect!) - If something goes well, many people want to say they contributed to the effort. They want to say they were a part of it. But if the thing goes poorly, those same people suddenly don't remember that they contributed to it
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0 I agree with GG. 02br
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00 A related situation: 02br
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00 While having success, one is courted; when one starts having failures, one is shunned. 0-
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0 Yes but the initial question, with mother in law, was clearly about what was meant to be a joke. A bit of word-play on the real proverb. Mothers in law are the **** of lots of jokes, at least over here. 0-
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0 Yes, here too. 0-
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0I hadn't heard the full quotation before, GG - thank you for that. In the context of the whole thing, of course you have it right. I'd always interpreted it on just the bit I knew.02br
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00I wonder if if would be worth pulling together a list of these idioms of the 'father of... / mother of...' type. Do you think this might be useful?0-
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0I don't know if it would be useful, but it would be fun. Here's one: 01i00Necessity is the mother of invention.02i0-
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