Tag Archives: proverb

Karnataka Proverb

Age: 20

“Everything that’s gold doesn’t glitter.”

Text

Informant: “I’m from Southern India. A place that’s called Karnataka and so we speak this language called Kannada and in Kannada it translates to “Everything that is white is not milk.” I think it’s supposed to be like…I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the saying in English that’s like, “Everything that’s gold doesn’t glitter.” So she’d always say it to me when I would be more dramatic or if I made a generalization she’d say it in Kannada to me. I feel like it has to definitely do with something with the fact that I’m vegetarian we eat a lot of… Hindu’s and people like that have a lot of respect for cows and so our form of gold is milk, I guess. I don’t know if that’s necessarily an equivalent.”

Context:

The informant is from Karnataka, a state in India, and retells a proverb that their family often tells them. It’s meant to teach people to not judge things by how they appear because it may be deceptive.

Analysis:

This text from Karnataka would be classified as a folk speech and a proverb in folklore. It’s informal and is passed down by families over generations. It fits the criteria of a metaphorical advice or wisdom. In other words, the proverb is saying that you can’t judge things based on what they look like. The piece of advice being taught is that looks can be deceiving. It’s also in the “topic + comment” structure. The topic is “everything that’s gold” and the comment is “doesn’t glitter.” At the same time, proverbs can give a glimpse into the culture. In Chapter 5 of ‘Living Folklore,’ Sims and Stephens write that “proverbs are frequently culture specific – express knowledge in terms that people from that culture or group will understand.” Since Karnatakans view cows in high regard, this proverb equating milk to gold makes sense in their culture.

A Georgian Animal Proverb

Interviewer: Can you think of a proverb you’ve heard a lot in your childhood:

MK: Sure, one of the more common ones I heard from my parents was this:

original: 

თაგვმა თხარა, თხარა, კატა გამოთხარაო. 

translation: 

The mouse dug and dug, only to dig out a cat. 

Context: This phrase was recorded from an older relative of mine, but I myself have heard it many times. It is a fairly common proverb in Georgia. 

Analysis: 

This proverb teaches a lesson through a short, memorable animal image. The proverb warns about the possible unintended consequences of ill-motivated curiosity. Animal imagery is used to better communicate with the intended audience of children. Proverbs work as vernacular pedagogy and teach about cause and consequence. Self-restraint is a common issue children struggle with, and this proverb is designed to function as a teaching tool. 

“Keep your door open slightly” Minor Genre

Text: Here’s a performance describing the folk proverb “Keep your door open slightly.”

Interviewer: Are there any family sayings that have been passed down or that you’ve heard?

Interviewee: Yeah, so my parents would always say growing up 门开紧, in Shanghainese that roughly translates into “Keep your door open only slightly” or “Only open your door just a little bit” and I think the closest equivalent to that in English is, like, “Keep a tight circle” or, like, “People don’t have to know everything about, like, your life.”

Context:

This excerpt is from a conversation with a college student studying Biology after a MMA (mixed-martial arts) practice. The student was raised in Walnut, California and has parents that are both Chinese immigrants. According to the interviewee, the proverb was used when his family was trying to communicate to him growing up that “you [should] keep to yourself and, um, like ‘Mind your own business’. It’s almost like you’ll stay on the straight path and people, like, can’t really like mess your life up.”

Analysis:

This proverb exemplifies family in-group and out-group wisdom. The folk speech effectively communicates that amongst people that are not within the family, you should not share too much personal information. This protects the family unit, and solidifies that unit in contrast to relationships with those outside of it. Also, when the interviewee tried to describe the saying, and express it in English, the interviewee used many folk expressions to try to relay the meaning, such as “stay on the straight path” and “mind your own business”. This explanation is interesting in that folk speech holds vernacular authority, so in order to translate the vernacular authority of a folk expression, the use of another folk expression is extremely useful. This pairing also illustrates how the same piece of wisdom is shared across American and Chinese cultures, even if they are worded differently.

Theater Superstition

“Bad dress, great opening”

Informant: “Basically it’s this superstition that if the dress rehearsal is terrible, then the opening night will be incredible. I’m pretty sure we just say this to make ourselves feel better about a bad rehearsal.”

context: The informant has performed in multiple plays and has many years of experience acting and singing on stage. They are heavily involved in theatre culture and has heard and participated in many theatre rituals and folklore. They also frequently travel in order to perform in or be on the crew for plays across multiple states.

analysis: This could technically fall under occupational folklore, since the informant has experience working in this field, and the beliefs are shared amongst performers specifically. This is also a proverb that specifically helps calm anxiety before they have to perform. I also understand the need for sayings like this since acting on a stage and putting on a show is such a high energy and chaotic activity to do. It also helps to reframe something bad into something positive, since a lot of things can go wrong during a theater show. It is a way to recognize and recontextualize the meaning of an uncontrollable event. This proverb also strengthens group identity as performers of the show.

Fukusui bon ni kaerazu

Text:

Informant: “My grandpa taught me a phrase called, “fukusui bon ni kaerazu”, which means “spilt water never returns to the tray”. It’s basically saying what’s done is already done, so don’t stress about it too much, and I really like it because it’s like a really zen way to live life, you know?”

Interviewer: “Oh yeah for sure, do you mind sharing when you first heard this, and the kind of effect this had on your life”

Informant: “Yeah, so my grandpa told me that during my senior year, and I was basically telling him how there was a part of me that regretted being set on going ROTC for college early on instead of trying to like actually go further with hockey, since I didn’t try to talk to any college coaches or like go to more camps, since I was like always just set that it’d be better off to go to college since the chance of making it pro is so slim. And I think what made me regret so suddenly was just watching all the other guys I grew up playing with going onto play higher levels either in pros or college but him telling me that and kind of explaining how it’s useless to stress about the past helped me get closure and just move on, since I could still play hockey at USC in the club team even if it might not be as flashy as the pros.”

“I think in general the phrase just helped me learn to not take everything too seriously, and just let things happen instead of trying to control everything, since whatever happens happens.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old sophomore at USC, who is studying environmental science. He grew up in Irvine, California, and played hockey all his life, and still plays to this day on the USC men’s club hockey team. This topic came up after I came back from playing intramural basketball, and told him about how I missed the feeling of playing actual organized sports and wished I was good enough to have had the chance to play in college, even if it was a small D3 or JUCO school. Relating to the experience, he shared his hockey experience and our conversation reached this topic. As shown in the interview, the phrase was told to him by his grandfather, who was a second-generation Japanese American; for the informant’s interpretation, it seems he took the literal meaning to heart, and uses it in his life to help him mentally not stress too much about past regrets or mistakes.

Analysis:

This Japanese proverb is a perfect exemplification of a traditional verbal folktale, as it is a long-standing saying in Japan that was passed down orally through family for this informant. The context of use for this proverb is to offer emotional wisdom, emphasizing that it’s what’s past is past, and that it’s foolish to let any form of regret from the past continue to affect one’s life. For this informant, just as how verbal folklore is passed down intimately between individuals, he learned this proverb from a family member. This informant’s story also holds cultural significance, as with the informant being a fourth generation immigrant who is culturally closer to the U.S than Japan, him still finding meaning within a Japanese proverb and its application to an important decision in his life shows how folklore can be meaningful across multiple cultures.