Editing Proverb (section)

===Counter proverbs===
There are often proverbs that contradict each other, such as "Look before you leap" and "He who hesitates is lost", or "Many hands make light work" and "Too many cooks spoil the broth". These have been labeled "counter proverbs"<ref name="Charles Clay Doyle 2012">Charles Clay Doyle. 2012. Counter proverbs. In ''Doing proverbs and other kinds of folklore'', by Charles Clay Doyle, 32–40. (Supplement series of ''Proverbium'' 33.) Burlington: University of Vermont.</ref> or "antonymous proverbs".<ref>Adrian Furnham. 1987. The Proverbial Truth: Contextually Reconciling and the Truthfulness of Antonymous Proverbs. ''Journal of Language and Social Psychology'' 6. 1:49–55.</ref> [[Stanisław Lec]] observed, "Proverbs contradict each other. And that, to be sure, is folk wisdom."<ref>p. 16. Hose, Susanne and Wolfgang Mieder, eds. ''Sorbian proverbs''. Supplement series of ''Proverbium'', 14. University of Vermont. 2004.</ref>
When there are such counter proverbs, each can be used in its own appropriate situation, and neither is intended to be a universal truth.<ref name="Singh, Anup K 2017">p. 8. Singh, Anup K. 2017. ''Dictionary of Proverbs''. Neelkanth Prakashan Publishers.</ref><ref>Oldberg, Ragnar. 1965. Ordsprak som poesi. ''Ord och Bild'' 74:564–568.</ref> 

The concept of "counter proverb" is more about pairs of contradictory proverbs than about the use of proverbs to counter each other in an argument. For example, from the [[Tafi language]] of Ghana, the following pair of proverbs are counter to each other but are each used in appropriate contexts, "A co-wife who is too powerful for you, you address her as your mother" and "Do not call your mother's co-wife your mother..."<ref>p. 425, 421. Mercy Bobuafor. 2013. ''The Grammar of Tafi.'' University of Leiden doctoral dissertation. [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20916/bookpart.pdf?sequence=23 link to dissertation]</ref> In Nepali, there is a set of totally contradictory proverbs: "Religion is victorious and sin erodes" and "Religion erodes and sin is victorious".<ref>p. 378. Valerie Inchley. 2010. ''Sitting in my house dreaming of Nepal.'' Kathmandu: EKTA.</ref>
Also, the following pair are counter proverbs from the Kasena of Ghana: "It is the patient person who will milk a barren cow" and "The person who would milk a barren cow must prepare for a kick on the forehead".<ref>p. 52, Helen Atawube Yitah. 2006. ''Saying Their Own 'truth': Kasena Women's (de)construction of Gender Through Proverbial Jesting.'' Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.</ref> From [[Lugbara language]] (of Uganda and Congo), there are a pair of counter proverbs: "The elephant's tusk does not ovewhelm the elephant" and "The elephant's tusks weigh the elephant down".<ref>p. 83, 84, Dalfovo, A. T. 1987. ''Lugbara Wisdom''. Unisa Press.</ref> The two contradict each other, whether they are used in an argument or not (though indeed they were used in an argument). But the same work contains an appendix with many examples of proverbs used in arguing for contrary positions, but proverbs that are not inherently contradictory,<ref>p. 157–171, Helen Atawube Yitah. 2006. ''Saying Their Own 'truth': Kasena Women's (de)construction of Gender Through Proverbial Jesting.'' Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.</ref> such as "One is better off with hope of a cow's return than news of its death" countered by "If you don't know a goat [before its death] you mock at its skin". Though this pair was used in a contradictory way in a conversation, they are not a set of "counter proverbs".<ref name="Singh, Anup K 2017"/>

Discussing counter proverbs in the [[Badaga language]], Hockings explained that in his large collection "a few proverbs are mutually contradictory... we can be sure that the Badagas do not see the matter that way, and would explain such apparent contradictions by reasoning that proverb ''x'' is used in one context, while ''y'' is used in quite another."<ref>Paul Hockings. 1988. ''Counsel from the ancients: A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens, and curses.'' Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.</ref> Comparing Korean proverbs, "when you compare two proverbs, often they will be contradictory." They are used for "a particular situation".<ref>p. 76. Jeyseon Lee. 2006. "Korean proverbs." In ''Korean language in culture and society,'' ed. by Ho-min Sohn, 74–85. University of Hawai'i Press.</ref>

"Counter proverbs" are not the same as a "paradoxical proverb", a proverb that contains a seeming paradox.<ref>Bendt Alster. 1975. Paradoxical Proverbs and Satire in Sumerian Literature. ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'' 27.4: 201–230.</ref>