This paper aims at investigating the various types of speakers who use proverbs, the factors that govern the use of proverbs in different milieus and the specific functions of proverbs in speech. A questionnaire was administered and distributed to one hundred Jordanian speakers at Mu'ta University. The speech of twenty Jordanian speakers was recorded to see when, where, who, with whom and under what circumstances proverbs are manipulated. The questionnaire and the collected data show that proverbs are used by both educated and illiterate speakers, but they are used more by the former speakers. It is also found that proverbs are used while interacting with both educated and illiterate speakers, but used more while interacting with illiterate speakers.