If loganamnosis is a mania to recall forgotten words, what's the word for one who's seeking a lost phrase/saying? whatever is it, i've got it...

can anyone remind me of the saying that means something vaguely along the lines of 'a wolf in sheep's clothing' but with a definite reference to the the fact that the wolf's identity is obvious? something in the back of my mind tells me there may be a reference along the lines of 'no matter how you dress up s*it(PMF)
it still stinks' (and thus will sooner or later be discovered)

it could be applied, for instance, to me tricking my toddlers into cleaning their rooms by making an 'exciting contest' out of it; it only works once or twice and then they see through the guise.

any ideas?

How about: "If it looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it's probably a duck!"

There is an article in this months Atlantic Monthly, about American's ability to remake them selves.

We do it all the time.. we move, change names, change careers, change everything we can.

Sometimes, it works. we make a new life for our selves, and don't make the same mistakes.. sometimes, it doesn't.

sometimes, we don't move far enough away, and our past catches up to us..

but-- Americans still hold the sacred the idea that we should be about to remake our selves, to start fresh.
That said...

we might have a wolf in sheep clothing, or we might not.

if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck-- but if it sort of looks like a duck, and makes some noise-- not quite quacking.. and the whole thing is pretty ugly-- we could call it ugly-- but maybe, if we wait a while, it might turn out to be an ugly duckling, or a swan.

Now, mind you, i might want to give the ugly duckling a lot of space.. i don't want to get to close to it.. but.. in the good old, old-fashioned american way, i am going to wait a while and see if i have a wolf in sheeps clothing-- or just one ugly sheep.. i am going to wait and see if the animal starts to quack like a duck.. or maybe its a swan..

there is no harm in a wait and see attitude..

(if this message seems bizzar, and coded.. well it is!)

Woof.

k

Caradea asks about concealed indentites.

The phrase "wolf in sheep's clothing", echoed in Little Red Riding Hood, comes from Aesop.

"A Wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so it put it on over its own pelt and strolled down among the sheep. The Lamb that belonged to the sheep, whose skin the Wolf was wearing, began to follow the Wolf in the Sheep's clothing; so, leading the Lamb a little apart, he soon made a meal off her, and for some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and enjoying hearty meals.

Appearances are deceptive."

Caradea, does your name come from a bilingual combination of "cara" and "dear"?
With a pun along the way on "cara mia"? How clever!

Dear caradea: No matter how you slice it, it's still baloney.