- (laughter) He thinks h…his shart is so good and smell that he sits in front of the wind. (more laughter)
- When one believes in their ridiculousness so much they will attempt to pass it on to others.
Context:
The speaker had fun with this proverb when sharing it out loud, sharing it both as a way to be informative of what a Persian proverb can look like, but also laughing at how ridiculous it is. The closest translation that the speaker found (with help from their family who was present) was the word “shart”, which is what the speaker used when performing this proverb. The family of the speaker laughed at this proverb, finding the proverb itself funny and finding it also funny hearing it come from this specific speaker, who is much older and would not normally know the word “shart”.
Personal Thoughts:
I find this to be a really fun proverb that I learned about, mainly because it is a very unexpected one to hear that has a profound meaning. While there is humor in the phrasing of the proverb, the main idea of how one can believe their own foolishness to great lengths that they would want to sit in it and spread it to others is something that can be globally understood. Proverbs, especially ones that have more humorous or exaggerated phrasing are very interesting in that they can relate to many greater ideas, and while this may be funny to hear even in context of a conversation, there is still something to be said about why it is important, particularly in Perisan culture. One can gather from this that there is cultural significance with humility and there it is highly regarded to be humble, rather than foolishly believe solely one’s own beliefs. It should also be noted that Western notions of the Middle East tend to depict these cultures as very reserved and conservative, which this proverb shows the exact opposite of, using crude language to make a point about a larger matter, thus not only revealing cultural significance but also subverting Western stereotypes.