Tag Archives: proverb

What Happened to Dorothea

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Central Valley, California
Performance Date: April 24, 2018
Primary Language: English

Over the past few years, I’ve heard snippets of this friend’s crazy grandpa. Many nights, we’d eat together and share stories of our nutty families, as we both share lineage with what many would call ‘eccentrics’. Self purportedly from a family comprised of 50% white trash and 50% religious explorers, he grew up around a variety of funny saying and stories.

The following was recorded during a group interview with 4 other of our friends in the common area of a 6-person USC Village apartment.

“You’d go, ‘Oh grandpa, blablablablabla’. And then he would kind of like – you know when you were a kid and you’d kind of like ramble a lot? So he would like loose track and then be like, ‘Well you know what happened to Dorothea don’t ya?’. And then you’d be like, ‘what?’. ‘She went to shit and the hogs ate her’. It wasn’t connected at all. It was basically like, ‘Oh, fuck off. I’m not listening.’”

I love this little proverb or parable or whatever it is, because it’s just so frickin’ unique and strange. At first, you think it’s going to be related to ‘the Wizard of Oz’ or at least somebody named Dorothea, but that’s just thrown out the window with a tragic image of graphic violence. And, to top it all off, it’s hilarious. The shear absurdity of it all perfectly captures the care-free nature of an older generation.

Good Old Grandpa

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Central Valley, California
Performance Date: April 24, 2018
Primary Language: English

Over the past few years, I’ve heard snippets of this friend’s crazy grandpa. Many nights, we’d eat together and share stories of our nutty families, as we both share lineage with what many would call ‘eccentrics’. Self purportedly from a family comprised of 50% white trash and 50% religious explorers, he grew up around a variety of funny saying and stories.

The following was recorded during a group interview with 4 other of our friends in the common area of a 6-person USC Village apartment.

“He had a lot of sayings for like the weather. ‘It’s colder than a witch’s tit’. Or, ‘it’s darker than a snake’s asshole.’ There were a lot of asshole things too. ‘Colder than a well-digger’s ass’. ‘I’d rather have acid poured down the crack of my ass than…’ ‘I’m so hungry I could eat the ass out of a dead gorilla’. ‘You talk like you have a paper hat’. ‘You talk like your ass is made of paper’. ‘Wish in one hand, shit in the other. See which one fills up first’. ‘Tough titties said the kitty’. He said that one a lot. ‘As useless as tits on a hoe-handle’. ‘Nervous as a whore in church’. ‘Nervous as a pregnant nun’. If something doesn’t go over well, he’d be like, ‘oh, that went over like a turd in a punch bowl’. He also had a lot of superstitions or tics I guess. He’d always get wine with ice in it – my mom’s family is 100% pure white trash. And so, he would order wine with ice in it, and then he would get it, stir it with his pinky, then suck on his finger, and wipe it on the left side of his shirt. Every single time. He’d like dry it off with the corner of his shirt. So all of his shirts had little things sticking off from him pulling on it to dry off his fingers. He’d stir his wine like it was a mixed drink or something.”

These weird little sayings always crack me up. They range from somewhat clever and somewhat useful to totally nonsensical and just plain silly. I especially love the strange ritual my friend’s grandpa performs every time he drinks a glass of wine. He seemed to do things just for the hell of it. What a way to live.

Agua Que No Vas a Beber Déjala Correr

Nationality: Cuban
Age: 54
Occupation: Customer Service Supervisor
Residence: Miami, FL
Performance Date: 4/15/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: english

Cuban culture in general is incredibly vibrant and colorful. With recent tourism to Cuba rising, foreigners often underestimate how vibrant the buildings, cars, and clothes are in Cuba. And this powerful expression also transfers over into language and proverbs. Although the Cuban diaspora is widespread, our vernacular holds us together. When visiting home recently, my aunt and grandmother came over to share proverbs and common Cuban vernacular with me.

One such proverb is: “Agua Que No Vas a Beber Déjala Correr”. Phonetically, it’s easy to pronounce since it utilizes the same Latin alphabet.

This is Cuban proverb was told to me by my aunt, who’s heard it all her life whether in public or at home. As a native speaker, I’ve heard this proverb a lot while growing up but did not know what it really meant until my aunt explained it. When literally translated, it reads “Water you don’t drink, you should let run.” My aunt explained that the original context means that if an issue does not concern you, you let it be; like water flowing down a stream it is not important to you at all. Sometimes it’s worse, the proverb posits, to become muddled in someone else’s problems. If one tries to solve the problems of another, the one with the problem won’t grow as a result and the situation can become much worse as a result of the intervening. So everyone for themselves, y’all.

Proverb

Nationality: Jewish, American
Age: 52
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/30/18
Primary Language: English

A mentor spoke a proverb to me that goes:

“The more you know the less you need”

 

Background: The speaker is a 52 year old father who grew up in Century City, CA and currently lives with his wife and three kids in Calabasas, CA. He is an entrepreneur and currently owns and manages multiple of his own companies.

Context: After dinner, he told me this proverb reflecting on his professional career.

Analysis: He shared with me that he originally heard this proverb from his father and it stuck with him, and therefore grew up with it always at the forefront of his mind.  Proverbs are really interesting to me because, by nature, they are vague enough that each individual can apply it to whatever area in their life that the words apply to them personally. For him, these words always were always important in terms of his professional career. To me, however, when I first heard this, I did not think of my future career at all, but rather in relationship to the family and friends in my life. Learning from people in my environment and truly knowing people who I care about makes me less and less inclined to need more. I love the way that proverbs manifest in each individual’s life and can stick with you through whatever circumstance is thrown at you.

Respecting the Penny

Nationality: American, caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: 325 West Adams Blvd./ Los Angeles, CA 90007
Performance Date: 04/09/18
Primary Language: English

Title: Respecting the Penny

Category: Proverbial Phrase

Informant: Julianna K. Keller

Nationality: American, caucasian

Age: 20

Occupation: Student

Residence: 325 West Adams Blvd./ Los Angeles, CA 90007

Date of Collection: 4/09/18

Description:

“ The man that does not respect the Penny, does not deserve the dollar.”

Context/Significance:

The phrase comes from Julianna’s great Uncle and is thought to be an originally German proverb. According to the source, the proverb means: A person should value the little things so that they can appreciate when larger things happen. The phrase implies that a person should be appreciative of all things that happen to them and take nothing for granted.

Personal Thoughts:

This proverbial phrase is something that can be heard when talking about small occurrences in an insignificant way. It can be used as a retort when someone acts inappreciative of something nice that happens to them.