On 15/04/15 02:51, Alan LeHun wrote:

The clout part most definitely refers to your winter clothing. There is
no doubt about that. There is still much doubt as to whether the saying
refers to the Mey flower or the month of May.

Personally, I think it is the month.

The clout does indeed refer to winter clothing and having checked with
the available ancestors (so three generations ago and three cultures),
there appears to have never been any doubt that May referred to hawthorn.

The fact that a proverb was devised would suggest there was a variable
involved in the matter (red sky at night, oak or ash, etc) and the first
of June is not a variable. The flowering of the hawthorn is.


--
AS
http://minnies.opcop.org.uk/