Category Archives: Proverbs

Knock on Wood for Luck

Information Info

Age: 38

Date_of_performance: 02/17/2025

Informant Name: CF

Language: English 

Nationality: American 

Occupation:  Senior Manager, Digital Marketing lol

Primary Language: English

Residence: Virginia, US

Text:

“You better knock on wood so something bad doesn’t happen or you don’t jinx yourself”.  It’s a big saying among my family and while I’m not particularly superstitious in general, I always knock on wood or the closest possible hard surface after I say “knock on wood”.  I’m not a religious person but I do believe in karma and that things can happen universally, so I will always “knock on wood”.  My family, particularly my mom’s side, has said this my whole life so I feel like I’ve been saying it since I was able to understand the saying.  

Analysis

Knock on door is a proverb I’ve heard many time before. It brings up an interesting conversation about where that saying came to be. C mentions how she isn’t religious but believes in karma, which makes me believe that it lands in the lap of people who are less spiritual and simply want protection and luck from the universe. Superstitious proverbs most of the time lead back to nature, as we can see from the one above, knocking on wood (whether if its a tree or a table made out of wood from trees) and it connects to wanting to be on good terms with the universe and what surrounds us. I also find this story sweet, even though she isn’t superstitious like her family, it is still ingrained into who she is because her mom taught her it and wanted to have luck throughout life.

“El burro trabaja doble”

Translation: “The donkey works twice”

Information Info

Age: 19

Date_of_performance: 02/16/2025

Informant Name:  YP

Language: English 

Nationality: Mexican

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: Spanish

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Text:

“The phrase I grew up hearing from all my relatives, but particularly my mom was: “el burro trabaja doble.” 

It’s a funny, straightforward saying and it essentially means to do things all the way right the first time, and don’t take shortcuts or else you’ll have to redo it. It’s basically telling you “don’t be lazy, you’ll regret it when you’re doing the same thing again, fixing your silly mistakes.” Whether I accidentally made my clothes pink cause I accidentally threw red shirt in with my white clothes or I failed an exam because i didnt go back and check my work, my family repeated this phrase to me over and over. At this point, it’s an engrained part of my life. Everything I do, I try to put in my best effort and make sure to take my time with things that I care about so I don’t have to worry about them again later. It’s simple, but it’s made me a pretty methodical person and I credit that to my mom and that saying. And every time I don’t go about my tasks thoroughly, it echoes back in my head that “el burro trabaja doble”

Analysis:
I never heard this proverb before, so I enjoyed hearing her talk about it and the history it has in her family. She mentioned to me before i started recording was that the translation comes off a bit funny ““The donkey works twice” and i would assume she is the donkey in this situation. It is a proverb that gets you thinking about not completely tasks just so it can be done with, but putting your best foot forward and completely it to the fullest extent and correctly. I feel like from the moment people enter high school there is so much pressure put on us that we need to rush to plan our future out in a second and we carry that rush into everything we do because it is ingrained in us that is is better to get things done in a fast way than in the correct way. This proverb could be a wake up call for people, to realize that it is better to take a step back and do things slowly and properly to avoid making mistakes we may regret. I’ll always take this proverb with me as I go through life and hold myself accountable for any mistakes I make because I was doing things quickly and without focus.

In the barnyard

Information Info

Age: 20

Date_of_performance: 02/13/2025

Informant Name: EK

Language: English 

Nationality: American 

Occupation: Student 

Primary Language: English

Residence: Los Angeles, CA  

Text:

“For as long as I can remember, my family loved to play card games, especially euchre. Euchre is essentially a trick-taking game with two teams of two, with a little skill and lots of luck of the draw. In euchre, you play to ten, and whenever any team got to nine, one team member would stick their hands out, interlocking their hands together except for their thumbs which would stick down in as “udders”. Then, the other team member would spray milk on the opposing team, paired with lots of jeering and taunting as they would flaunt how they were “in the barnyard!”. That phrase has only come from my family from what I can tell, but whenever I’m close to succeeding at something, I often say I’m in the barnyard because of that.”

Analysis:

Out of all of the proverbs I’ve got from the interviews, this is the first one that doesn’t have the intention of wisdom or a hidden passage that is being passed down from different generations. This one was created about of a fun game night with his family. It is a proverb that came from a family memory and E created into a message for himself and turning it into a feeling succeeding because he would say that phrase when he won the game. I love hearing stories about a family saying that becomes ingrained into people and soon becomes of great importance to them. if you were to hear someone yell “In the barnyard” after finishing up a hard assignment or getting a dream job, it would be fair for your first reaction would be to be weirded out because that would be the last thing you expected to hear. But to them, it is meaningful for them. That is what proverbs should be at the end of the day, they don’t have to make sense to others as long as you understand the meaning and carry it with you giving you hope or reminding you have good memories.

Arabic Proverb: “Don’t Lie or You Will Go Blind”

Text

“Don’t Lie or You Will Go Blind”, spoken in Arabic. Original Arabic version unknown.

Context

Learned from the informant’s Arabic mother, originally spoken in Arabic. It has likely been passed on over time.

The proverb is used as a reminder to children not to lie, usually when an adult is already aware they have done something wrong and the child is hiding it.

Analysis

This proverb is very similar to many folk tales in other cultures aimed at children, in that it enforces good behavior / wards away bad behavior by warning against a negative consequence for not doing so. In this case, the connection between lying and blindness is unclear. However, as it was likely necessary for the consequence to be something the targeted child would actually be afraid of, there may not be a major connection there. Most people would choose to avoid becoming blind, if given the option.

HAGS!

Age: 20

Date of Performance: 2/13/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a sophomore student at USC, who is studying Public Relations. She quoted a minor genre saying of “HAGS” that she used to write in yearbooks.

2. Context

“In yearbooks, everyone would write ‘HAGS.’ I did it a lot, it means, ‘have a good summer.’ It was for friends, teachers, but it was bigger in elementary school and middle school I feel like.”

3. Analysis

The reference of the informant to the tradition being larger in elementary school than middle school is reflective of the proverb’s reflection of youthful values. “HAGS” is a casual saying exchanged between peers to represent camaraderie and encourage optimism for the future. Summer is a traditional celebration for school-aged children, and HAGS aligns with that value for students. Additionally, yearbooks are a tradition for many students and a measure of friendships between peers.