Say What? "An elephant never forgets" + "A friend in need is a friend indeed"
Today’s “Say What?” article focuses on the following phrases: “An elephant never forgets” and “A friend in need is a friend indeed”. Let’s find out more about them!
Examples include, among others, bits from Disney's The Jungle Book, Everyman, and Placebo's Pure Morning.
An elephant never forgets
Elephants are known for being intelligent creatures and having a very good memory. They remember particular paths and always follow them, each clan has a burial place, and they have strong friendships not only among themselves, but also with humans.
This already makes it easy to understand the use of the phrase “An elephant never forgets”, right? But let’s go more into detail about it.
It seems like the phrase is related to “The camel never forgets an injury”, which is a Greek proverb. Considering the fact that elephants are known for their good memory, the phrase was recently changed. It is now often used either as “An Elephant never forgets” or “to have a memory like an elephant”.
It was apparently first attested in the United States, in Blue Ridge written by W. Martyn. Its second use is linked to Saki (British author Hector Hugh Munro). In Reginald: Reginald on Besetting Sins (1904), we can find the following quote:
Women and elephants never forget an injury.
Another notable use is in the Disney movie, The Jungle Book (1967):
Bagheera: Colonel Hathi. The mancub is with me. I'm taking him to the man village.
Colonel Hathi: To stay?
Bagheera: You have the word of Bagheera.
Colonel Hathi: Good. And remember: an elephant never forgets!
It gradually became popular to use phrases related to the memory of an elephant when talking about people who had a great memory. However, while generally it is used to compliment someone’s memory, it can also be used when talking about someone who can’t let go of past situations. It helps the person saying it to expresses his dissatisfaction regarding the one who can’t get over something that has happened in the past.
In Romanian, there is the phrase “a avea o memorie de elefant” (to have a memory like an elephant). We can find something similar in Spanish too: “tener memoria de elefante”.
A friend in need is a friend indeed
This phrase is definitely a lot more common. Not only has it been used a lot in English, but it also has similar versions in many other languages.
Its origin can be traced as early as the 3rd century BC, where a similar version of the phrase was used by Quintus Ennius. He wrote “Amicu certus in re incerta cernitur”, which can be translated from Latin as “A sure friend is known when in difficulty”.
In the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, it appears as existing in English since the 11th century. The earliest evidences of the phrase are from the late 15th century, however. One example can be found in the play Everyman:
Fellowship: Sir, I say as I will do in deed.
Everyman: Then be you a good friend at need:
I have found you true here before.
A similar phrase was also used in Caxton’s The Foure Sonnes of Aymon, written in 1489:
It is sayd, that at the need the frende is knowen.
At present, it is used in everyday speech, as well as in books, movies and even songs. We’ve got the lyrics of Placebo’s Pure Morning as an example, where the phrase “A friend in need is a friend indeed” is repeated at the beginning of each verse:
A friend in need's a friend indeed,
A friend with weed is better,
A friend with breasts and all the rest,
A friend who's dressed in leather
The phrase can sometimes be used as “A friend in need is a friend in deed”. Also, another recent version is “A friend with weed is a friend indeed”.
The phrase is quite common in other languages, as well. In Finnish, it’s “Hädässä ystävä tunnetaan”, in Hungarian it’s “Bajban ismerszik meg a jó barát”, in Japanese we have “まさかの時の友こそ真の友” (Masaka no toki no tomo koso shin no tomo), in Spanish, "A buen amigo, buen abrigo", and in Romanian it’s “Un prieten la nevoie se cunoaşte”.
Sources: orvillejenkins.com, phrases.org.uk (link 1 and link 2), en.wiktionary.org, mab_browne.