Category Archives: folk simile

Good Old Grandpa

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Central Valley, California
Performance Date: April 24, 2018
Primary Language: English

Over the past few years, I’ve heard snippets of this friend’s crazy grandpa. Many nights, we’d eat together and share stories of our nutty families, as we both share lineage with what many would call ‘eccentrics’. Self purportedly from a family comprised of 50% white trash and 50% religious explorers, he grew up around a variety of funny saying and stories.

The following was recorded during a group interview with 4 other of our friends in the common area of a 6-person USC Village apartment.

“He had a lot of sayings for like the weather. ‘It’s colder than a witch’s tit’. Or, ‘it’s darker than a snake’s asshole.’ There were a lot of asshole things too. ‘Colder than a well-digger’s ass’. ‘I’d rather have acid poured down the crack of my ass than…’ ‘I’m so hungry I could eat the ass out of a dead gorilla’. ‘You talk like you have a paper hat’. ‘You talk like your ass is made of paper’. ‘Wish in one hand, shit in the other. See which one fills up first’. ‘Tough titties said the kitty’. He said that one a lot. ‘As useless as tits on a hoe-handle’. ‘Nervous as a whore in church’. ‘Nervous as a pregnant nun’. If something doesn’t go over well, he’d be like, ‘oh, that went over like a turd in a punch bowl’. He also had a lot of superstitions or tics I guess. He’d always get wine with ice in it – my mom’s family is 100% pure white trash. And so, he would order wine with ice in it, and then he would get it, stir it with his pinky, then suck on his finger, and wipe it on the left side of his shirt. Every single time. He’d like dry it off with the corner of his shirt. So all of his shirts had little things sticking off from him pulling on it to dry off his fingers. He’d stir his wine like it was a mixed drink or something.”

These weird little sayings always crack me up. They range from somewhat clever and somewhat useful to totally nonsensical and just plain silly. I especially love the strange ritual my friend’s grandpa performs every time he drinks a glass of wine. He seemed to do things just for the hell of it. What a way to live.

Indonesian Proverb

Nationality: American
Age: 27
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: English
Language: Indonesian

The informant was my cousin (referred to as LG) who spent 4 years being a Fulbright scholar in Indonesia. There she was teaching school girls English and art. She told me one of the Indonesian teachers would always say this proverb to the girls:

 

LG: “Bagai pungguk merindukan bulan. Which translates into Like an owl reaching for the moon.”

 

CI: “What does that really mean?”

 

LG: “It’s definitely kind of sad, It is basically saying, ‘you’re wishing for something impossible.’ I feel like the older Indonesian generations definitely tried to be what they thought was realistic with their students or children, but also it definitely could be seen as putting the children down.”

 

I find this particularly interesting because teachers in America are very encouraging and there is a strong sentiment that “The children are the future. But in Indonesia, especially in the village, my cousin lived, which was very poor, it seems that adults think it is important to not encourage the children too much. This proverb isn’t necessarily putting children down, it is just telling them not to dream too big.

 

Botellita de jerez Todo lo que digas sera al revez

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: San diego
Performance Date: 04/18/18
Primary Language: Spanish

Folk Metaphor

This saying was told by my grandmother  to me which has helped me throughout my life especially when people were being mean to me in school. In English it just means that everything that you say will be backwards so it will go back to you This meaning really helps you fight off those mean words that people tell you in school. You say this and everything that they say is basically going back to them and it really means that what they’re telling you is them telling themselves that.

Background

The significance of this metaphor to the informant was that no matter what people said , with this saying you can turn all the bad things on to them. it was like a magic Karma spell. It has a lot of meaning because it takes way the pain of being called names or being picked on.  The informant like sit because it rhymes and its unique .

Analysis

This is from Mexico and this saying is very  popularly and  this expression refers to everything you want for someone is going to return, or you’re going to return everything you said; or everything you say will be used against ..With this in mind, it is better not to wish anyone badly, or to say things that can be used against you.

“Mais Perdido que Cego em Tiroteio”

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 20
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California; São Paulo, Brazil
Performance Date: 04/20/2018
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English

There is this popular simile that I heard multiple times, I don’t know the first time I heard it but I keep repeating because it is so famous in Brazil that goes “estou mais perdido que cego em tiroteio” which means that I am more lost than a blind man in cross fire. It’s pretty self-explanatory; it means that you have no idea of what’s going on in the current situation. It’s a nice expression; a great symmetry and I think it’s funny. Although it could be seen a joke I use it occasionally.

This is definitely one of the most popular similes in Brazil; people use it a lot, including myself. When people are telling a story and someone doesn’t seem to understand they use the simile. It’s supposed to be entertaining, even though it might sound offensive at first, it’s just supposed to be a joke. Today I had some trouble to understand a tough math problem for my macroeconomics class and I used it to myself. People also say it when they are driving and aren’t able to find the destination they are looking for. It comes out spontaneously and it’s a fun way to say that you have no clue of what is going on.

“Casa da Mãe Joana”

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 22
Occupation: Software Engineer
Residence: San Francisco, California; São Paulo, Brazil
Performance Date: 04/07/2018
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English

My folk simile is a very popular one in Brazil, in Portuguese the simile says: “Isso tá que nem casa da mãe Joana.” In English this would translate to “this is like mom Joana’s house.” I heard this folk simile for the first time a couple of years ago in a movie. The name of the movie was actually “Casa da Mãe Joana” and essentially what it means is a really messy house with a bunch of people and when things get really out of hand and there are a lot of things going on, super messy, everything is all over the place, this is a mom Joana’s house. So every time I think about a place where things are out of hand I think of this comparison.

As Alexandre mentioned, this simile is very popular in Brazil. People use it a lot in parties when things get completely out of control and everything is all over the place. My parents use it a lot, I guess it’s an old saying and comparison but that has been present until this day. Apparently Mom Joana’s house was a very messy place in the movie and as a consequence people make this comparison. It’s an amusing way to say that the place is a mess without sounding bad. It’s perhaps a proposition to get things in order and organize the place. People who aren’t familiar with this comparison will have a hard time to understand what it means but it’s so common in Brazil that I believe almost everyone knows.