Zany new proverbs on Twitter

The trending topic 'modern proverbs' is inspiring tweeters to tweak age-old aphorisms to sound funny and contemporary

For two days, Twitter was awash with gems of urban wisdom. The trending topic "modern proverbs" inspired tweeters to attempt variations on old proverbs and create zany new ones.

An example of the first variety is "History repeats itself" becoming "History retweets itself."

Many proberbs borrow from the vocabulary of tech, and social networking. "Give hashtag where hastag is due" takes off on "Give credit where credit is due," replacing 'credit' with the hash sign used by tweeters to recognise and promote an exciting topic. "What's in a user-name?" is a variation on Shakespeare's ubiquitous line "What's in a name?"

Television and popular culture are other big influences, as in @jhunjhunwala's witty proverb "Actions speak louder than Words but Arnab Goswami speaks louder than actions and words."

Thousands of 'modern proverbs' had appeared on the micro networking site before the tide started ebbing on Wednesday. Many tweeters were Indian, but they were not a majority as they were when the Nithyananda scandal broke.

Here are some I liked:

@mansigrover History retweets itself

@avinash_y Every day is a monday except saturday and sunday

@creatitwitty: Accents speak louder than words

@krishashok: The leopard cannot change his spots, unless Photoshop is involved

@vinod_raman: Tweet to live, but don't live to tweet

@eJeremy: Give hashtag where hashtag is due…

@Jhunjhunwala: Don't judge a book by its cover ,download the free PDF and then judge it

@jhunjhunwala Actions speak louder than Words but Arnab Goswami speaks louder than actions and words

@darshanp82: Love thy neighbour's Wifi connection.

@sujayendra: For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program

@The_Prachi: i m in a good shape. round is a shape.

@vinod_raman: Too many hooks spoil the blog

@boredtech: He who hath smelt it, surely must have dealt it

@sandsekh: make love, not mms

@c_aashish: One man's meat is another man's jail term under Section 377.

@shahstruck: "Man proposes, and woman disposes of his income".

@dharmeshg: If at first you don't succeed, go to the 'Help' menu

@OMGhumor: Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted.

@telljeeves: Roaming was not billed in a day

@teatattler: Google helps those who can't help themselves

@johnnypixel: Life will give you many challenges. Much of which can be outsourced to India