Category Archives: Proverbs

When a Boat Reaches a Bridge (Chinese Proverb)

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 1-15-19
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Background Info/Context:

My friend was laying in bed while browsing through her phone, listening to me pace across my room after not hearing back from an internship I applied to multiple weeks ago. She told me that I did my part, and all I had to do now was wait, and trust that if the company finds me to be a good fit for their internship role, they would reach out. She tried calming me down with a proverb that her dad used to tell her to go with the flow and help her trust the system.

 

Piece:

“When a boat reaches a bridge near a river… it naturally, like, bends the… right way, so it doesn’t crash. Meaning that if the boats at a slight angle, and it’s about to crash, you just have to have faith that it will correct itself and like not crash into the bridge and just like keep going smoothly.”

 

Thoughts:

The proverb my friend shared definitely gave me perspective on what I should and shouldn’t stress about. After something been all said and done, the best thing you can do is trust that you worked hard enough to not “crash” or fail. Although this proverb was used in the context of career, it could easily be applied to many other situations. If someone is stressing out because of an argument they had with a friend, feeling anxious about being a first time parent, or even worried that their pet might not recover from a surgery, the proverb is focusing on fate, and that things that are meant to be, are going to be happen regardless of worrying or panicking. 

Clear Water Trickling Down A Mountain (Korean Proverb)

Nationality: Korean
Age: 48
Occupation: Co-business Owner
Residence: Texas
Performance Date: 2016
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Background Info/Context:

Because my mom is the oldest sister, she always had to set the example for her 2 younger sisters. So whenever she would disobey her parents, my grandma told her this proverb to explain why she needed to be a good role model. This saying actually annoyed my mom a lot, because although she understood the message of it, she felt like everything she was doing as an adolescent was being analyzed, to make sure her younger sisters would be happy and good.

 

Piece:

Korean:

윗물이 맑아야 아랫물이 맑다

 

English Transcription:

Weet mool ee mal ga ya ah rae mool ee malg dah.

 

Transliteration:

High water clear so bottom water clear.

 

English Translation:

The water at the top of the mountain has to be clear for the water at the base of the mountain to also be clear.

 

 

Thoughts:

I think this type of “role model” sentiment is valid, but instills Asian family household stereotypes and expectations. There is almost a lack of freedom for the eldest child, because he/she is reprimanded for making mistakes, exploring less developed paths, or even just not listening to his/her parents. For example, I was not allowed to quit piano lessons or go to a PG-13 movies, because it could negatively affect my younger sister. 

Although this proverb was always used in the context of sibling relationships in my family, it could also apply in a wider scope. Because the basis of the proverb pertains to being a role model, it could be used in other hierarchical systems, such as a place of work, an organization, or a class setting. If the person at the top (CEO / President / Teacher) is kind and understanding, the people that work alongside or beneath that person will also be respectful of others. While in the case that the “water at the top of the mountain” is rude and disrespectful, people will feed off of that negative energy and perpetuate these bad actions.

Italian–American Proverb about Age

Main Piece

“I was where you are, and you’ll be where I am.”

For a similarly worded proverb with a different usage, see Frederick Hartt. Italian Renaissance Art, Third Edition, 1987, published by Harry N. Abrams, pp 203-4.

Background

Informant

Nationality: Italian–American

Location: Staten Island, New York

Language: English, Italian

The informant learned the above proverb from her grandmother. The informant’s grandmother will first state the proverb in Italian, but the informant does not speak Italian, and so the informant’s grandmother will follow up by saying the proverb in English. Hence, the informant only understands the proverb as it is told in English, which is why I have chosen not to include a translation.

Context

The informant’s grandmother says the proverb when any of her children or grandchildren make fun of her for being old or says something along the lines of “Grandma, you don’t understand,” in regards to the grandmother’s technological prowess.

Notes

I have seen this proverb before, but I have only ever seen it as an epithet on gravestones, which is the usage of the example I cited above. In either instance, the informants example or the gravestone, the proverb speaks to the inescapability of time. Most people tend to shy away from such topics, and the proverb helps state the truism in a pithy, approachable way.

 

KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/19/18
Primary Language: English

Context:

The subject is a white man from Dallas, Texas. We were talking about his family when he told me this proverb. I like this idea of the proverb being an engineering saying, an occupational proverb.

 

Piece:

“When my dad was teaching me, um, woodworking and we were getting into making. And that was the start of me getting into engineering there was an axiom that’s like everywhere in engineer but he specifically drilled it into me so I always think about him that is KISS which is Keep It Simple Stupid”

 

Win Some, Lose Most

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Montreal, Cananda
Performance Date: 04/18/18
Primary Language: English

Context:

The subject is a white male and a lifelong New Yorker from Manhattan and Queens. He is my twin brother and we attended the boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. Before this we were discussing boarding school and teen culture and how low levels of depression was a large part of that. We made a lot of jokes about it which led to this proverb. This proverb interests me because it is a youth proverb and those are very rare as we associate proverbs with age and wiseness. And it is a proverb that was created by youth and only used by youth in a sort of rebellion against that proverbial wisdom.

 

Piece:

“What we’d used to say, you know after something pretty shitty happened. Like you got a bad grade on a test or like you, it became really stupid after a while like you’d stub your toe and say “win some, lose most” and everyone would just agree with you. You know, it’s like “win some, lose some” but like true. It was sorta a joke”