Note 9 — Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs.

Passé—lit: “past”—therefore synonymous with “beyond.” Word for word the translation would be:—“The stick is not strong beyond the sword.” But the Creole generally uses “plis....passé” instead of the French plus....que (“more than”). “Victorine li plis zolie passé Alphonsine”—Victorine is more pretty than Alphonsine. The Creole passé is really adverbial; bearing some semblance to the old English use of the word “passing,” as in “passing strange,” “passing fair.”