Neal Norrick helps define Taylor's "incommunicable quality":

Neal Norrick, How Proverbs Mean. Semantic Studies in English Proverbs. 1985 p. 45.


Norrick notices that “for well known proverbs, mention of one crucial recognizable phrase serves to call forth the entire proverb. Let us designate this minimal recognizable unit as the kernel of the proverb … Proverbs bear much greater social, philosophical and psychological significance for speakers than do other idiomatic units.” The semantic density of proverbial material thus impresses such texts on our consciousness. “Consequently a speaker can call forth a particular proverb for his hearer with a brief allusion to its kernel”.