Tag Archives: human nature

Al mejor escribano se le va un borrón.

Age: 59
Language: Spanish/English

Text: Al mejor escribano se le va un borrón. (Literal translation: To the best scribe comes a blot/smudge.)

Context: The participant remembers his father telling him this phrase when he was younger. His father would notice that he was frustrated that his art wasn’t turning out how he hoped it would, or when he was taking a long time to work on small details in projects. The participant believes that his father was trying to teach him that it’s okay to make mistakes and that his work didn’t have to be perfect.  

Analysis: This saying is meant to convey that perfectionism is an unsustainable behavior. Even those who might be incredibly experienced at something are still prone to err. As the proverb suggests – the best, most skilled scribe can still leave smudges and stains on a paper; they are still human, after all.  Although this specific saying is in Spanish, the message conveyed by it is universal in its appearance across cultures and languages. This universality only further proves the point of this proverb – making mistakes is a universal experience, and no one is exempt. 

A Wolf is Still a Wolf, even if Raised among Humans

Nationality: Iranian-American
Age: 77
Occupation: Small Business Owner
Residence: La Canada, CA, USA
Performance Date: March 12, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Persian/Farsi

Do you have a proverb that you were taught as a child that you would like to share?

“The translation is like this… The wolf is still a wolf, even if raised among humans. Probably should say by humans, huh?… [speaking in Farsi] ‘Al-gorbetteh ghorgzadeh ghorg shabat… gar chabeh a debi bezorghche’ .”

And what context would you use this in?

“Uhh, generally used in the areas that you uhh… you work hard to uhh… eh… to change somebody’s nature, and uhh… you never succeed because it’s change people’s nature. Something to that effect.

Note: For a published version of this proverb, see Simin K.Habibian, 1001 Persian-English Proverbs, (Bethesda: IBEX, 1995).

Analysis: Like his wife, Tahereh, Masood spent a great deal of time in a poor but rapidly modernizing region of Iran’s capital. The strains of living in such an environment were likely reflected in the sorts of proverbs they were taught, which emphasized double-checking people’s motives and avoiding treachery. As mentioned with regards to TB’s childhood proverb, MB also taught his children with proverbs similar to this, and those messages were passed down farther.