to be dead live longer

very cute & funny German stud of mine...

A fellow passed along a German proverb "_Tote und Totgesagte_" with the literal translation: People said (or believed) to be dead live longer. In German, the meaning is clear: "a person who's been written off—say, a politician caught in a scandal—will return and progress even further in his or her field." In looking for English versions of this saying, he had come across three candidates: the condemned live longer; there's life in the old dog yet; and, there's no tonic like reading your own obituary.

Our correspondent asked if any of these expressions conveyed the same meaning as his German phrase. Does the condemned live longer suggest that the life of the condemned feels longer or that the condemned are invigorated by their death sentences? Does the reading of one's own obituary truly act as tonic, or is that comment a slap at poor journalism? And in the case of there being life in the old dog yet—we don't know that's the expression we'd use to talk about someone rising from the ashes. To us, it evokes a tired old hound who, when given the proper stimulus, can rouse himself.

What about that phrasing rising from the ashes? Mythology lovers know it originates in the story of the phoenix who, when it felt death approaching, would build a nest of wood and immolate itself, whereupon a new phoenix would arise from the ashes. It may not be the best translation, but it's a fine metaphor for resurrection.