Lo Que Menos Puedes Ver, En Tu Casa Lo Haz de Tener

“’Lo que menos pudes ver, en tu casa lo haz de tener’ se refiere a un refran que dice que no es bueno admirarse de la demas gente porque uno nunca sabe. Por ejemplo, si yo ando a dice y dice que hay unas chamacas bien locas que ni le hasen caso a sus padres, por andar de habladora, alomejor hasta mis hijas me salgan asi. Por eso es major mantener la boca cerrada porque como dicen, en boca cerrada, no entran moscas… este refran me acuerdo que lo desia mucho mi mama, no estoy segura si fue de ella en que lo escuche por primera vez pero se que ella lo usaba mucho tambien. Tambien he escuchado esa frase mucho en las telenovelas, alomejor se deve a que es una frase muy comun para nosotros.”

“’What you can least tolerate, you shall have it in your home’ refers to a proverb that states that it’s not good to talk about other people because you never know. For example, if I’m going around talking and talking that there are girls who are really crazy who don’t even listen o their parents, for being a big mouth, my daughters may end up being like that as well. That’s why it’s better to keep your mouth shut because as they say, in a closed mouth, no bugs go in… I heard this proverb from my mother who used to say it a lot. I’m not sure if I first heard it from her but I do know she used it a lot. I’ve also heard this phrase a lot in Spanish soap operas, maybe this is because it really if a very common phrase among us.”

My informant is a native of Guadalajara Mexico. She was born and raised there until the age of 16 which was when she migrated to the US. She is now 42 years of age and has 6 kids of various ages. Even though she has lived most of her life in the US, she still maintains strong ties with her Mexican heritage through her mother. She is really attached to her mother and therefore most of the things she has learned have been passed on by her mother. She is now also sharing her knowledge with her oldest children and continues to bestow Mexican culture among all her children. Since she migrated to the US she has focused on working and after getting married, to being a housewife. She has not had any formal institutional education, so most of her knowledge comes from others in her daily life.

It was interesting to collect this particular proverb because even though I’m not from Guadalajara, people in Zacatecas, from where my roots come from, also use this phrase a lot. This goes to show that some phrases aren’t necessarily original to one specific place, it can be homogenous to several locations. Furthermore, commonalities among different groups can help bring people together which is why I was able to get along so well with my informant.