Ye may take a boy out of the country (was: I apologize in advance)

[Peter Giordano]

According to  A DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN PROVERBS this is a common proverb
with many variations (what a surprise) The region given is the whole of the
US and Canada (and the book is usually more precise) - It does not give an
attribution - It does not appear in any of a half dozen books on English
Proverbs I checked so my guess is that it is American

>>     250.27 - 250.28  "Ye may take a boy out of the Country...but never the
>>     Country out of the Boy."  Can this proverb be attributed to anyone?
>>     (I've looked, but can't  find a source.)

Peter Giordano
Williams College
Williamstown, MA