My friend Mikk picked me up from the airport and on the way home stuck in traffic, we began talking about how living in our apartment complex is affecting our grades.. its too easy too live there and there is too much partying. He sais
“It’s enough rope to hang yourself”
Meaning there is so much freedom and things to be tempted with that we might kill ourselves.
Text:
Your actions speak so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying.
Background:
This is something I picked up from a bunch of different management prep talks. It gets mentioned almost every event. Depending on who’s talking they have their own favorite version but I like this one the best because it’s short and sweet. It basically just reminds me that I can talk all I want but until I actually do something it doesn’t really mean anything what my intentions are. It’s all just bullshit until I show what I’m made of through my actions.
Context:
I say this to people like when [our friend] Sean talks about his music for fuckin ever about the EP he’s working on and the gigs he wants to book and his social media or whatever, and eventually I just can’t take it anymore and I say it to like jog some fuckin sense into him cuz I can’t take it anymore. He just talks a lot of shit, and I want to remind him “Hey, you haven’t done anything yet, so it doesn’t matter. Plans are great, but you haven’t accomplished anything, and if you don’t like that, then for fuck’s sake, DO SOMETHING about it.”
My Thoughts:
This really speaks to the culture of the CUTCO company that you always want to get the sale now, today, right away. We believe that if you don’t walk out of a house with a sale, you failed and you need to figure out how to do better next time. We hate when people talk about doing something like “oh, I almost got the sale” because at the end of the day, “almost” means nothing in our company.
Text:
When a man feels that he has been slighted by a woman, he’ll turn to his male friends for support, and often express remorse for having prioritized his paramour over the camaraderie of his “bros.”
Background:
In any breakup or conflict, there is a desire for both parties to believe themselves to be in the right, and to be surrounded by others who are willing to help them believe in their own lack of responsibility. One of the principle ways in which individuals will avoid blame is that of vilifying the person with whom they have had a conflict. When there are very few legitimate complaints to be made about the object of one’s heartbreak, as is often the case when the principle responsibility of the conflict lies in the individual seeking most to avoid blame, the individual is likely to resort to ridiculous overgeneralization and categorically unsound platitudes (“bitches be crazy”). Because they’ve surrounded themselves with friends who will, for the time being, support their friend by confirming their status as a victim, the jilted lover will align their pain along self-indulgent, sexist lines, by drawing the conclusion that women are antagonistic towards the feelings and needs of men, and that the only dependable source of support is that of other males. Like I said, it’s a coping mechanism. While it extends beyond the heterosexual circumstances described above, the overwhelming consensus in our culture would suggest that this way of dealing with guilt is generally most prevalent in this context.
Context:
Ok, so here’s like an example, right?
Bro: “Hey Mark, I’m sorry Kathy dumped you.”
Mark: “Yeah man, I can’t believe that bitch.”
Bro (thinking about what Mark wants to hear): “Yeah, Mark…that bitch.”
Mark: “All I did was cheat on her and lie to her and take her for granted, and then she got all hysterical about it. I think she might have been PMSing. Whatever. Who needs bitches when you’ve got buds, right?”
Bro (texting Kathy, “I heard you’re single ;)): “Yeah, Mark. Kathy’s…Kathy’s the worst.”
Mark: “I’m so lucky I got a friend like you to help me out when bitches be trippin’. Bros before hoes.”
Bro: “Yeah, man…Bros before hoes.”
My Thoughts:
I’ve never thought about this saying as folklore before, but it totally fits. I’m sure there must be other sayings in the world that express the same basic sentiment. I think it’s interesting to talk about it that way, in an academic discourse, because it’s really casual and whatnot if you know what I mean.
Text:
Original Latin: “Festina lente”
English: “Make haste slowly”
Background:
This is a Latin motto I learned in high school during my four years of learning Latin. We learned it as a motto that Augustus Caesar would use as a way of progressing as an emperor; always have something you want to do, and wait for the right time to do it. It is a classic example of the literary device oxymoron. This proverb has governed how I think about parts of my life, especially working on film sets. One always needs to be working on somethings, but sometimes to work, one must wait. And on film sets, you always have a job to do that involves waiting: waiting for actors to fly in, waiting for lights to be set up, waiting for the camera to roll, etc. There are so many moving parts in a film, and it’s important to understand how all of them work together. So for one part to progress well, it must wait for the others.
Context:
This proverb comes up a lot in work environments, particularly those that rely on multiple people to finish one’s own job.
My Thoughts:
I think it was interesting that my informant described this piece as being used almost exclusively in a professional context. I think this is the only piece I’ve collected so far that is used thusly. In any case, it seems to be particularly applied to film for the informant’s life… I wonder how it applied in ancient times? If there were specific professions or tasks that utilized this proverb more than others?
Text:
“Sleepin’ Jesus”
Background:
I heard this from my dad. It’s something he says sometimes when he’s upset at something or other. I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean exactly other than “fuck this.” It’s pretty singular. I asked him once where it came from and he said he didn’t know, it was just something his dad used to say. He never heard it from anyone else in his whole life.
Context:
You just say it whenever you’re pissed off.
My Thoughts:
I kinda like this one. I think it’s just a little flippant, and I like that kind of attitude. Like damn.