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.  Maria’s mother used to use this proverb whenever someone asked her to do something she had said she was not going to do.

Text:

Me quite de lechero por no cargar los botes.

Transliteration: I quit being a milkman so that I wouldn’t have to carry the milk containers.

Translation: Don’t ask me to do what I have already decided not to.

Analysis:

This proverb offers a logical argument of why a person would not do a certain task.