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.  When she was young, Rosalba’s brothers picked on her.  She wanted to fight with them but her mother always told her this proverb so that she would calm down.

Text:

Meyor un loco y no dos.

Transliteration: Better to have one crazy person and not two.

Translation: It’s better to have one crazy than two.

Analysis:

This proverb suggests that someone who fights back is as crazy as the person who picks on them.