Irish Proverb 176 - Seanfhocail Ghaeilge 176

You can take the man out of the bog but you cannot take the bog out of the man. Like most Irish proverbs it is politically incorrect, snobbish even.

You can take the man out of the bog but you cannot take the bog out of the man. Like most Irish proverbs it is politically incorrect -- even snobbish.

Hi Séamus, That's an interesting interpretation and you may be right. I have always taken it to mean that when you marry a woman from a place you end up part of that place - familiar with all of its goings on and activities. There are other versions as well, such as Pós bean ón Ghleann agus pósfaidh tú an gleann uilig. I am a bit dubious about equating this with You can take the man out of the bog but you cannot take the bog out of the man, which as you say, is dismissive and insulting about people from the country.

Saying "taking the man out of the bog..." is demeaning is only true if you believe that "the bog" is beneath you.  The same could be said of "you can take the boy out of the city..." of "you can take the boy out of the country...". This proverb really means "you marry a woman, you marry her family" knowing that the extended family probably lives in the same area.

Hmm, I am not sure about your interpretation there, a Bhradáin, a chara! In general, it's used with "the bog" or "the country" and mostly it is a town-dweller's way of looking down on country people and their country ways. As you say (and as I said above), that English expression doesn't really have an Irish equivalent and this expression certainly means that when you marry a woman from a particular clannish community, you marry that whole community.