The Tongue has No Bone

Informant:

I had a conversation about proverbs they had learned from their families with three female employees at a local taco shop during one of the less busy times of the day.  Mercedes Rodriguez, 42, Maria Lopez, 23, and Rosalba Valdez, 18 each consider themselves Mexican.  Rosalba was the only one born in the United States, though she is a second generation immigrant.  Mercedes said that a lady in her aunt’s neighborhood knew all the news of the neighborhood and never grew tired of talking.  Consequently, she was described with this proverb.

Text:

La lengua no tiene hueso.

Transliteration: The tongue has no bone.

Translation: She never gets tired of talking.

Analysis:

This proverb uses the tongue as the defining characteristic of a blabbermouth.  Since the tongue is not restricted by a bone, nor is the local gossip restricted in their speech.