Proverbial + Wagon = ??

Question

I understand "being on and off the wagon" but maybe it is proverbial I am not understanding and how it ties in with the "wagon" portion of the phrase "Proverbial Wagon". What is Proverbial, what does it have to do with a "wagon" and what kinds of phrases would it be used in and why?

Answer 1

Proverb - a short and memorable saying.

Wagon - a form of transport... in the period of the so-called American frontier, it is any of various kinds of wheeled vehicles drawn by a horse where all of the implements, tools, equipment, food and other provisions, and family members rode on as they sought lands to settle and build their houses on.

Wagon as used in the "proverbial wagon" is the trend or situation to which a group of people join in (as in riding altogether). As such, you hear the phrase "bandwagon of ipod users" or all of those people who are now so enthused with their ipods. Or "bandwagon of Hello Kitty products".

"Being on and off the wagon" as contextually used means being with the trend now (or craze/mania for that matter, as in "Beatlemania") and suddenly deciding to or refusing to stay with it and only to later rejoin in.

Answer 2

Proverbial just means being related to a proverb or in this case a common saying. It has nothing to do with wagons.

So, I might say, "Jed is off the proverbial wagon again."

And I just mean that Jed is off the wagon and it's the wagon that is always referred to in that saying, so I called it "proverbial" because it is related to a common saying.

It could equally be used in, "Well, that's the proverbial pot calling the kettle black!" and again "proverbial" has nothing to do with pots. It's just that a pot is always referred to in that saying, so I call it the proverbial pot.

Answer 3

Proverbial = Of or relating to or resembling or expressed in a proverb.

A proverb = A condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people.

Take "kicked the proverbial bucket". There is no bucket, but a proverb to say when you die, you kick the bucket.
Proverbial is also widely known and spoken of, such as "her proverbial lateness"; "the proverbial absentminded professor"; "your proverbial dizzy blonde".