Breaking a Plate at a Wedding

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Auditor
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Western Armenian

Item:

After a wedding ceremony, the groom breaks a plate by stomping it with his heel. The number of pieces that it breaks into is supposed to signify the number of happy years that the married couple will have together.

Background Information:

The informant learned this saying from his wife’s family, who insisted that he perform the tradition at his wedding. He suspects that the tradition is originally Russian-Armenian, but he isn’t sure.

He doesn’t believe that the number of pieces the plate breaks into has any meaning, and he doesn’t seem to hold the tradition in very high regard, probably due to the memory of hurting his foot by stomping too hard when he performed it.

Contextual Information:

The tradition is performed at a wedding, after the ceremony. In the informant’s case, the tradition was performed during the wedding reception.

Analysis:

Wedding traditions and accompanying beliefs are very common in all cultures.

You Can’t Put 6-Pounds in a 5-Pound Bag

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Administrator (previously Architect)
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English

Item (direct transcription):

You can’t put 6-pounds in a 5-pound bag.

Background Information:

The informant learned the proverb from her architecture mentor whom she worked for during her education. He would tell the proverb to his clients when they were requesting the impossible of him. In the context of architecture, the proverb means that there is only so much that can be fit into a finite amount of space, regardless of the skill or ingenuity of the architect.

The informant continues to use the proverb in the same way when consulting about architecture.

Contextual Information:

The informant says she would use the proverb when someone has unrealistic expectations for what can be fit into their house plans.

Analysis:

This saying meets all four of the canonical criteria for a proverb. It is (1) short, (2) fixed-phrase, (3) rhetorical, and (4) metaphorical.

This proverb is an example of occupational folklore for the occupation of architects.

You Don’t Have to Look for Trouble; Trouble Finds You

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Administrator (previously Architect)
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English

Item (direct transcription):

You don’t have to look for trouble; trouble finds you.

Background Information:

The informant learned the proverb from her father.

To her, the proverb means that it’s foolish to take unnecessary risks in life, since even without “looking for trouble,” more than enough trouble is bound to work its way into your life.

Contextual Information:

The informant says she would use this proverb to warn someone against taking an unnecessary risk.

Analysis:

This saying meets at least three out of the four canonical criteria for a proverb. It is (1) short, (2) fixed-phrase, and (3) rhetorical. It is also somewhat metaphorical due to its personification of “trouble.”

If You Sleep With Dogs, You Wake Up With Fleas

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Administrator (previously Architect)
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English

Item (direct transcription):

If you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

Background Information:

The informant learned the proverb from her father.

To her, the proverb means that even if you’re “clean,” when you “consort, make friends, do business with, or associate with people who are doing things that you don’t want on you, it will end up on you. Then you could get punished for their acts.”

Contextual Information:

The informant says she would use this proverb to warn someone against associating with someone of questionable character.

Analysis:

This saying meets all four of the canonical criteria for a proverb. It is (1) short, (2) fixed-phrase, (3) rhetorical, and (4) metaphorical.

Another version of this proverb was recorded by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac as “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.” This provides a terminus ante quem of 1758 for the proverb.

Every Rock Falls on My Head

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Auditor
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Western Armenian

Item (direct transcription):

Every rock falls on my head.

Background Information:

The informant learned this saying from his father. It means, “I get blamed for every problem.”

Contextual Information:

The informant says he uses this dite when he feels that he is being undeservedly blamed for something, especially if by his wife. However, he only uses the dite playfully or jokingly, not rhetorically. When he is truly upset or argumentative, he does not use this saying.

Analysis:

This saying meets all four of the canonical criteria for a dite. It is (1) short, (2) fixed-phrase, (3) metaphorical, and (4) not rhetorical.