Category Archives: Folk speech

“Ghar ka bedhi, lanka dhaaye,” India

Nationality: Indian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/24/18
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English

This proverb was collected from a friend, who was born and raised in New Delhi, India and is 20 years old. “Ghar ka bedhi, lanka dhaaye” translates into English literally as “the person who is a traitor to his/her own home can bring the entire house down,” and it is based on Hindu mythology.

 

The context is about the evilest king in Ramayan, who was brought down because his brother exposed the king’s only weakness to the king’s rival. If he hadn’t received that information, he would have never won.

 

I found Indian proverbs to be very metaphorical and symbolic in comparison to the American or Latin American proverbs that I’ve heard. My friend told me about some others that she had heard and I didn’t understand them at first, but when she gave me some context for them, I thought their messages were very deep and beautiful. They clearly come from experience and make interesting religious connections.

El chamuco, Mexico

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/24/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

This folk saying was collected from a friend, who was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico and is 20 years old. El chamuco is a Mexican folk saying mostly used to as a slang term referring to the devil. It often comes with religious undertones, and some versions are very detailed; for example, some people believe that his body is on fire, has one cat leg and one chicken leg, and smells strongly like copper.

 

It was used in her household in different ways. Her mother would often say things like, “go to sleep right now or el chamuco will eat you.” The hostile tone of that type of threat-like statement made her feel very scared as a child.

 

However, people also used it to refer to an evil or angry person. When her mother got angry, her father would say “if you get any angrier the chamuco is going to come out of you.” It soon became a running joke with her siblings to refer to their mother as el chamuco when they wanted to tease her. She would get really angry, which they just thought proved their point.

 

Even though I wasn’t familiar with el chamuco specifically, my parents had similar ways of getting me to listen to them, like el cuco, which was used in the same context as el chamuco and I would think could even be a variation of it. As I pay closer attention to Latin American sayings and legends, I am beginning to see that parents tend to scare their children into behaving, which is really interesting. I think Latin American parents are very strict and more religious than the average American, which is reflected in these folk sayings.

“Agua pasa por mi casa, cate de mi corazón, lleva un vestido verde, y amarillo el corazón,” Mexico

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/24/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

This riddle was collected from a friend, who was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico and is 21 years old. The riddle “agua pasa por mi casa, cate de mi corazón, lleva un vestido verde, y amarillo el corazón” translates into English literally as “water passes through my house, cate from my heart, it wears a green dress, and has a yellow heart.” The answer is avocado, for the word in Spanish for it is aguacate, so if it is split in too it becomes “agua” (the word for water) and “cate,” which isn’t an actual word.

 

My friend says she used to hear it a lot around school as she was growing up. She says she isn’t surprised that avocados were made into a riddle since avocados are very common in Mexico, and she grew up eating them with every single meal.

 

This riddle is a variation of one I grew up with myself, and it is one of the most popular ones that I can remember from my childhood. It seems that Latin American riddles are a bit more symbolic in that they involved more imagery than American ones.

The King’s Ring

Nationality: African American
Age: 60
Occupation: Part time elementary school supervision aid
Residence: Carson, CA
Performance Date: April 24, 2018
Primary Language: English

What is being performed?
LA: I know a proverb but it comes with a story.
AA: What’s the proverb?
LA: The proverb is this too shall pass, but it comes from a long story.
AA: What’s the story?
LA: I think basically this king is on a journey to find a ring that could make a happy man sad and
a sad man happy. The king eventually finds a ring with the words “this too shall pass” engraved
on the inside. It’s supposed to remind people that bad things come to an end but that also so do
good things.

Why do they know or like this piece? where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to
them?
AA: Why do you like this story?
LA: It reminds me to not sweat over the small stuff because it all goes away but to also live in
the moment.
AA: Wow. Where did you learn this from?
LA: I heard it from my grandmother when I was in my 20s.
AA: And where is your grandmother from?
LA: Arcadia Louisiana

Context of the performance- where do you perform it? History?
AA: Do you ever share this story?
LA: I try to pass it on to my children and live my life by it.
10

Reflection
My mother told me the story of “this too shall pass” for the first time when I was in middle school.
It is a story that has stuck with me for my whole life. The version I remember had to do with King
Solomon but nevertheless he was searching for a ring that would accomplish two things. I think
it’s one of the most profound stories and I try to live my life by it.

An Eye for an Eye Makes Everyone Blind

Nationality: African American
Age: 57
Occupation: musician
Residence: carson, ca
Performance Date: April 21, 2018
Primary Language: English

What is being performed?
DA: There’s this saying that goes, “an eye for an eye makes everyone blind.”
AA: What does it mean?
DA: It means, uh, basically that striking back won’t solve anything.
Why do they know or like this piece? where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to
them?
AA: Why do you know this proverb?
DA: I remember growing up hearing it in the context of the civil rights era.
AA: Why do you like it?
DA: I think it’s important to advocate for nonviolence with logic and I think that’s what this saying
is about.
AA: What do you mean with logic?
DA: I just mean that this quote simple enough to understand logically and that’s why it’s
effective.

Context of the performance- where do you perform it? History?
Delward Atkins has shared this proverb with his children as they were growing up and had to
learn how to deal with people on the playground. He sees it as an important life lesson that
especially needs to be taught to the younger generations.

Annotations
Quote Investigator, quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/27/eye-for-eye-blind/.
This annotation shows the many people who have coined this phrase. Notably, Mahatma
Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Louis Fischer, and Henry Powell Spring have said variations of
this proverb. This publication also shows the different ways this proverb has been used. For
example, instead of just “an eye for an eye makes everyone blind” there’s also “an eye for an
eye makes the world blind.” The publication gives a chronological timeline of how the proverb
has changed over time and famous people that have helped change it.
Dear, John. “An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind.” The Huffington Post,
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Nov. 2016,
www.huffingtonpost.com/john-dear/an-eye-for-an-eye-makes-t_b_8647348.html.
This article shows how the proverb is used in a more recent context. It uses the phrase to
discuss the Paris terrorist attacks and shows how the phrase is still relevant- from protest signs
to songs and other forms of art that are being created to push for a world of nonviolence. It is a
proverb that might’ve been most famous in the 60s but is still present in the 2000s and can be
used as a strong argument for the cyclical nature of violence.

Reflection
I see this proverb as extremely important and relevant today. With the Syrian crisis going on and
the proxy war that now surrounds it, I think it’s important that we remember grass root political
movements and why nonviolence can be so effective for them. I think this proverb is about
creating change that is positive and doesn’t have to harm others in the making. I think that’s
what we need today.