Tag Archives: proverb

Norwegians Are Born With Skis On Their Feet

Background: Informant has a Norwegian background from his fathers’s side and was raised being told about these Norwegian traditions and holidays, and this anecdote was told to me over a FaceTime call.

Informant: Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. It’s an old Norwegian expression just because Norwegians are good at skiing and winter sports.

Me: Where did you hear it?

Informant: My great-grandma told me about it. 

Thoughts: This one is pretty self-explanatory, but there’s something funny about how straightforward it is as an expression. It is also a pretty well-known fact that Norwegian people are especially good at winter sports—they’re known in the Olympics as “the ones to beat,” and even now Norway holds the most medals in the winter olympics. 

Waste Not Want Not

Background: Informant is my mom, a middle-aged woman living in Seattle, raised non-religious, and this story was told to me via a phone call.

Informant: My dad always said “waste not, want not,” my entire childhood, about anything. Sometimes it was compounded with other phrases, like, if I wasn’t done with my dinner he’d say “there’s still a lot of meat on those bones” and that could sometimes be followed by “waste not, want not,” as well. He never said so, but it definitely came from him growing up in the depression era and growing up during World War II. 

Thoughts: I feel like the concept of “during the war,” is so familiar as World War II was such a massive event, however it’s not often talked about today just because it’s beginning to feel far removed. Especially from the perspective of someone who merely lived through it without any pin-pointed atrocity or horror story, but the general mindset of “waste not, want not,” and to be conservative and frugal. It’s also interesting to interact with someone who did fairly well for themselves and is living in a comfortable retirement to have that mindset and continue to be frugal and careful with money in a way that isn’t very necessary, but is also something that probably isn’t even greatly considered, just second nature.

Proverb: “It’ll make hair grow on your chest.”

Text:

AL: “It’ll make hair grow on your chest.”

Context:

The informant is a 20-year-old college student of Ashkenazi Jewish descent who currently lives in Los Angeles. He said that his grandmother would say this phrase in response to someone having to do something difficult. For example, AL said that if he were to complain to his grandmother about having to write a challenging essay, she would tell him that it would make hair grow on his chest. She also said this when someone ate something spicy.

Analysis:

This proverb promotes the belief that suffering makes an individual stronger. However, the contexts in which AL describes it being used suggest that it is not used to pacify the grievances of someone experiencing serious hardship. In chapter eight of Elliott Oring’s ‘Folk Groups and Folklore Genres,’ F.A. de Caro describes how metaphorical proverbs use imagery to illustrate a point more concisely than would be possible with a literal articulation. When boys undergo puberty, they grow hair on their chest, which is a biological signal that they are transitioning to manhood, the stage of life where one confronts expectations that they be strong, self-sufficient, and to provide for others. That this saying would be used to console someone undergoing something difficult or give a tongue-in-cheek justification for bad luck or misfortune reflects the widespread cultural association of masculinity with strength.

Sources:

Oring, Elliott, and F.A. De Caro. “Riddles and Proverbs.” Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: An Introduction, Utah State University Press, Logan, UT, 1986, pp. 175–197. 

Bad Luck with Double Doors

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/27/22
Primary Language: English

“Opening both doors at the same time will lead to bad luck.”

CL is a Taiwanese student at USC who lived in Taiwan for a few years before moving to the United States. This is a superstition that I have never heard before, and it is definitely interesting since it is focused on such a mundane task as opening a door. The above quote was said after CL opened one door of a double door entryway at the same moment that someone opened the other door from the external side.

When asked where she learned this superstition, she replied that it had been passed down to her from her mom, though she had never questioned its origins. There are some theories as to where it comes from. Other door superstitions state that it is bad luck to leave through a different door than the one that someone entered through, particularly in houses. Though the above superstition is not exactly similar, a person is leaving the door while someone enters simultaneously in the above situation. This could be a variation of the superstition of departing and entering through different doors that has been adapted for a double door entrance.

Doorways often represent a transition or a gateway into another space, the passage between one place or state of being and the next. As such, it is not surprising to see superstitions that arise out of these passageways. They could also be regarded as thresholds between the physical and spiritual worlds, so it can be seen that our interactions with doorways have an influence on the external forces acting on our lives, which in this case takes the form of good or bad luck.

The Dangers of Playing the Flute at Night

Nationality: Korean
Age: 49
Occupation: Counselor
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/21/22
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

“밤에 피리를 불거나 휘파람을 불면 뱀이 나온다”

Context: I was in band during high school, and I would sometimes practice until the late hours. Whenever I played the flute at night, my mom would say this proverb.

Romanization:

bahm-eh piri-reur boor-guh-nah h-we-param ir boor-myun bem-ee na-own-da

Transliteration:

At night, to play the flute or to blow a whistle a snake will come out

Translation:

A snake will come out if you play the flute or whistle at night.

This is a proverb that my mom has heard growing up, and it is one that I have heard many times from her. She grew up in a more rural area of South Korea, so there were many snakes near her home. Controlling or taming snakes with a flute is quite common in many other areas of the world, which is where this proverb most likely originated. Where it seems to diverge is in the inclusion of whistling, which is surprising. The phrase seems to warn that even such a commonplace, harmless act can lead to something much more dangerous or deadly down the line.

Though this is a proverb warning against playing at night for fear of summoning a snake, she most likely said it to me to save the neighbors from the shrill notes of my flute at night.