Tag Archives: proverb

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease…”

Folklore/ Text: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease…” 

Explanation/ Context: My parents have always told me that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” It’s an old proverb that has been passed through my family for generations and has a greater metaphor. In other words, the proverb tells us that if you work hard, speak up, and vocalize interest toward obtaining or achieving something, your needs will be met and your hard work will serve you well. It’s almost like saying “the early bird gets the worm.” When I complain that I don’t like my meal at a restaurant, my parents will say “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” which translates in my mind to “if you want something different to eat, you gotta speak up!” Or, when I was dying to go to USC in high school they would say “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” which ultimately told me that “I need to work hard and do well in every aspect of my high school career if I wanna achieve the USC acceptance.” This folklore in my family has been verbally passed along to me by my parents, whose parents also passed it down to them. It’s familial folklore, although I’m sure it is used by other people in many other contexts.

Persian Roof Proverb

  1. They go so far up the roof they fall back. 
  2. When someone goes too far into something or pushes themselves too far, it ends up being more counterintuitive than helpful to their initial goal. 

Context:

The speaker presented this when discussing a conversation they had with their mom, bringing this up believing it to be a humorous moment. The discussion that the speaker had with their mom was about veganism, which prompted the speaker’s mother to respond to the explanation of veganism with this proverb, which while a persian proverb, was performed in English.

The performance was done in a manner of telling the story about this conversation with the speaker’s mother, wanting to make a point about how the mother’s response to veganism was humorous, since it was so negative. 

Personal Thoughts:

This piece is quite interesting as it is not only a humorous proverb to use in the context of veganism, clearly showing how when used in this specific context, it is meant to show how the speaker’s mother believes that some vegan practices may go too far. Culturally, many Persian cuisines are meat-based and also, food is a highly important part of Persian culture, as it can be representative of many different things. While in the West it is common to have “vegan alternatives”, that may not be the case for other cultures and the way something is made and what types of food is presented in the dish is highly important, thus it would be understood why some vegan practices may prompt this kind of response. 

French Morning Proverb

  1. Le monde appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt. 
  2. The world belongs to people who wake up early. 

Context:

This performance took place early in the morning and this was being shared to the speaker’s family. The speaker, who is French, brought this specific proverb up to make a point about how it can be a benefit to wake up early in the morning, even if it does not feel like it at the moment. 

Personal Thoughts:

This is a really interesting proverb that can reveal what French folk communities may view as what is “best” and socially acceptable. From this specific proverb, one can gather that there is an importance to waking up early, and that by waking up early, there is more to do in the day, thus making the world belong to those who are up early. This could be viewed in context for many things. While France does not have as typically capitalist a society as other Western countries, such as the United States, there may be a prioritization for work, thus getting up in the morning to go to work is seen as a success. France also has a lot of Catholic history and a large population of Catholics, therefore waking up early may tie into attending church ceremonies, which could potentially turn into a folk tradition if this particular view of waking up early has transformed into a religious folk tradition for church goers. While not there is not one specific folk practice that this proverb alludes to, it is interesting to note the different possibilities of what it may relate to, and it should also be noted that the translation in English has a similar structure to it in French, allowing for the proverb to translate fairly smoothly from one language to another. 

The cockroach in the eyes of his mother looks like a gazelle.

Content: 

Y: Let’s start with my dad’s story. So, one day I was asking him for praise or validation, like I always do. And his, so like I showed, I think I was showing him something I was really excited about. And his response- I was like, “do you think it’s good?” And he was like, “the cockroach in the eyes of his mother looks like a gazelle.” And <laugh> he explained like it’s a proverb that his father told him.  I mean, his mother told him over and over again. And I was like, “I’m so offended.” He was like, “no, I’m just saying I’m not a reliable witness cause like I’m always gonna think you’re amazing.” But I still, like, bug him about that proverb to this day.

Background: Y is a 20 year old who was born and raised in New Jersey. She now resides in Los Angeles, California. 

Context: This story was told to me at a hangout among friends.

Analysis: Y’s proverb reminded me of other proverbs or sayings that relate to the unconditional love of a parent. Although it has a more negative connotation, I thought of the saying “they had a face only a mother could love.” What’s interesting about evaluating these sayings side by side is that there’s a notable difference between the statement of unconditional love coming from the parent, such as in Y’s proverb, versus in the second saying, which is meant as an insult from someone outside of the family. The connotations are vastly different. 

Oversalting rice

–Informant Info–

Nationality: Costa Rican

Age: 47

Occupation: Unemployed

Residence: Los Angeles

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): Spanish

*Notes: The informant will be referred to as GC and the interviewer as K. Many parts of this story were told in Spanish and appears here in its translated form, translated by her son)

Background info: GC is a mother of 2 who grew up in a small town in Costa Rica. Her Grandmother, who she heard these stories from, was a believer in natural medicine and related practices.

Context: This story was told to me over drinks in the evening as a final addition to the few she had told me in the hours prior. The informant mentioned that this was told to her my her grandma as a way to embarrass her, so the informant was telling it to her son and me as a way to embarrass us.

GC: I have one more to tell you. *laughter* I hope-I hope it doesn’t embarrass you to horribly *laughter*

K: Oh god *laughter* Go ahead, whats the name of the folklore and how do you know of it?

GC: UH…it was something you just kinda…heard but my grandma she-she was the one to tell me I guess

K: Ok, go ahead

GC: So it goes that uh…ig your like…making rice that if you-what is it over salt or under salt the rice?

Son: You told me over

GC: Right *laughter* oversalting rice means youre in love! So when my son oevrsalted his rice, I-I fraeekd out *laughter* I was like “Oh my God! *waves her arms in the arm* Hes in love!” *Large deep sigh before laughing*.

Interpretation:
I think this is really cute! Rice is a large part of so many Hispanic meals, especially somewhere like Costa Rica, so it makes sense that they’d use something more familiar to test if someones in love. It stems from being distracted enough to forget how to do something you’ve done countless times before. I also think that noting the fact this is something, as the informant said “you just kind of hear” around. Its not something dated, or something that only parents say, people will say it to their friends, siblings etc to embarrass them. Its a teasing sort of ritual.