“Money doesn’t grow on trees”

“My father would primarily say that as I got older and would want money. He was very frugal with his money and sometimes he was oddly cheap. Well, you have to put it into context. He grew up in the depression so he was very tight with his money. The oddly cheap, everything, he was so cheap, I remember when he would say when you go to the bathroom, use only two squares of toilet paper. When I was um … when I would have to do back to school shopping he would give me $50 for all of my school shopping. He would give me $20 to buy one pair of jeans. He had no idea how much clothes cost or how important they were to girls. He wasn’t really in touch with reality or how much things cost. He thought one pair of shoes was enough. I had one pair of topsiders, and I didn’t get another pair until that one was falling apart. My mom was sick … when she would talk, she would try to say, use the two squares, turn off all of the lights, use little paper towels. This is why I go over board in the other direction. Another thing, when I would eat a bowl of cereal, and there would be milk in the bottom of the bowl, he would make me drink the milk.”

Have you ever said it?

“Probably to you and Michael [my brother]. I don’t think I’m oddly stingy.”

What do you see as the significance of this saying?

“There is a finite amount of money in the household. So organic.”

Analysis:

This proverb represents the informant’s family’s careful practices with money. It makes sense that the informant’s father was the one to primarily use this proverb, because he grew up poor during the depression. However, the informant says that to her, this proverb represented his stinginess. She complains that he went overboard with the meaning of this proverb, and that her father did not understand the reality of how much things cost or why she wanted things. Through the informant’s story of this proverb, we can see that it sometimes put her at odds with her parents and that she chose to raise her children in a different way.

“Everything happens for a reason”

“Um so my mom is very optimistic, or I don’t know if that is the right word, but she is more optimistic, she looks at things in a positive light then a negative light. I tend to focus on the immediate, this sucks now … my mom is very … encourages reflection on events that have happened, and because things have happened, believe that God has a plan, and I try to see it that way.”

Does religion influence this proverb for you?

“Not particularly for me, I’m agnostic, but my mom grew up in a Baptist home. It does for her, not necessarily for me. I believe my individual choices are what happens, but eventually all of my decisions are all for a reason, I will figure out the reason later. Whether is it a lesson or to bring it to someone else. Like if I didn’t join Gamma Phi Beta, I would have never met Kat, or you guys, I joined the sorority to meet even more great people outside of the house.”

What do you see as the significance of this proverb?

“The significance, is that even though she is not here, I think of stuff, I remember everything happens for a reason, I feel like she is still there with me, I am not on my own.”

Analysis:

The informant sees this proverb as a connection to her mother and a reminder to see every decision and outcome optimistically. To the informant, each choice leads to something valuable or useful.

“The next thing you know, you won’t know nothing.”

“Well I think it just a saying. My dad taught me this saying and you kind of just say it as a joke. You don’t really understand what is happing in life. You don’t know what is going to happen next. You don’t know what the situation, go with the flow kind of thing.”

“Um, most of the time, its just mostly be like remember for instance, if I were just talking about some random problem that I had in my life, and he wouldn’t know what to tell me if it would be boy related, … it kinda of just there to make things more light hearted. Don’t stress the small stuff. Like everything is just going to come around.”

What is your reaction when he would say this proverb?

“A nostalgia thing, just like of makes me feel more sound about things, that is true, just a family thing.”

When did you first hear it?

“First heard about it when I was five or six. Just my dad says it. Dad’s dad, its my grandpas but I learned it from my dad because he passed away”

Analysis:

I agree with the informant that this proverb means that events in life should be taken light heartedly. The future is never clear and as soon as we know it, everything can and will change. I also agree that this is a piece of advice given when other advice is hard to understand. I think it is interesting to note that the informant relates this proverb to nostalgic time with her father.

Informant-Catherine Calhoun: My mother, 50-year-old woman from Indianapolis, Indiana. She heard this piece from her mother always as a child and passed it down later to me because she thought it was such an important saying. Was conducted via phone interview.

Proverb: If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all!

History: Some say that the quote comes from “If you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here by me” this was said by Dorothy Parker but some credit it to Alice Roosevelt Longworth who was Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter. The quote was apparently embroidered on one of Alice’s pillows that was described during an interview in 1965.

“Quote Investigator.” Quote Investigator. N.p., 9 Aug. 2014. Web. 27 Apr.

6. <http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/08/09/sit-by-me/>.

Thoughts: This is a proverb my mother was told as a young child by her mother who often found her up to no good with her older brothers and sisters. This proverb was later repeated to me as I grew up by my mother whenever I would say a curse word or something that was not nice. It taught me to think before I spoke, just as it taught my mother and her siblings. I grew up hearing this from both of my parents so it makes sense that my mother was often told this as a child. This proverb is very common among children as many of my friends were often told this. It means a lot to my family just because of how often it was repeated and I still remember it to this day. Though no one knows for sure where it came from, I had never head that it came from Alice Roosevelt but was in another form, which is very interesting.

Informant-Beatriz Jacobs: My roommate, Beatriz Jacobs who is originally from Brazil and lives there with her family. This proverb is very important to her and I learned about it from her while interviewing her in person.

Proverb

“Antes Tarde Do Que Numca” translated to “Better late than never”

Explanation: “This is a very applicable to Brazilian culture because we are known for being late. We will never ever come on time. When I go to meet up with my friend we know that we are going to be at least an hour late. It’s commonly accepted and not considered rude like America. I love this proverb because it really explains our culture. We will never leave you hanging, we will always be there, but we will be late. An example is clubs, no one goes when they open they at least go two hours later so if a club opens at 11pm people go at 1am.”

Thoughts: I find this funny because my roommate is always late but this explains a lot! I love that this piece is a symbol of a cultural attribute of Brazil and it is definitely not a positive thing in America but there it makes sense.