“Wise man seeks wisdom, mad man thinks he found it.”
The person who’s wise goes after something: they seek wisdom, the mad man just talks and talks, he’s delusional, and he thinks he knows it all. This is a very common idea that is shared by most cultures, it seeks to make people stay humble no matter the amount of knowledge they accrue.
Tag Archives: proverb
The Bird and the Cow
Giovanni’s grandfather will occasionally tell the story of the Bird and the Cow to his grandchildren in order to instruct them on a lesson in life. The story goes as follows:
There once was a bird that was flying south for winter, but he had left too late into winter that the air was extremely cold. While he was flying, his wings began to freeze, and he could no longer continue to fly. He became completely frozen and fell to the ground. While on the ground freezing to death, a cow happened to walk past and noticed the freezing bird. The cow takes a crap on the bird and then walks away. The poo actually warms up the bird, and eventually the poo thaws him out. When the birds mouth is thawed out, he begins to sing for joy, knowing that he eventually will be out free. Then a fox that is walking by hears the singing bird thawing in the cow dung. The fox digs the bird out of the cow dung, and then he eats the bird.
There are three lessons that are meant to be learned from Giovanni’s story. The first is that not everyone who shits on you is your enemy. The second is that not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend. Lastly, when you are deep in shit keep your mouth shut.
Drunken Words Are Sober Thoughts
The saying is “drunken words are sober thoughts”, and was provided by an informant at university. This saying warns that alcohol has a truth telling effect, or an effect that would lower the inhibitions of whomever may be speaking and thus they will speak their true thoughts, rather than dissembling. It warns people not only to believe in drunken confessions, but also would warn those who would drink in a precarious situation that they may say things that they would normally not be driven to say. My informant didn’t know where she heard it but believed in its validity, and given that overconsumption of alcohol has a very long history, it would be fairly impossible to determine the length of time this proverb has existed. Alcohol alters the normal state of consciousness, thus allowing for people to do or say things that they might not normally, and this proverb indicates that one could gain insight into someone else’s character in this manner.
Waiting for the second shoe to drop
“There’s this guy, and his neighbor that lives above him. And every day, the neighbor that lived above him kicked his shoes. One shoe, two shoe. And he couldn’t sleep until both shoes were kicked off, but he anticipates them and normally it happens, so he just deals with his annoying neighbor. But one day, he only heard one shoe drop. And the anticipation was killing him, because the second shoe never dropped. So it’s just about anticipation, I guess. And we incorporate it into phrases. Like, ‘waiting for the second shoe to drop,’ I guess that comes from there.”
This phrase is common across cultures, but this was the first time I had heard it explained in terms of a story. My informant wasn’t entirely clear on the moral of the story; she knew it had something to do with anticipation, but she wasn’t sure what exactly. Perhaps it illustrates a situation in which someone is so wrapped up in waiting for others to act that they are unable to live their own lives. It could be a cautionary tale about making your own decisions and not waiting for outside circumstances to fall into place before you act. At any rate, it reflects a culture where apartment living is common; in a detached home, it wouldn’t matter if the second show never dropped, because no one would hear it except the person to whom it belonged. In order words, this story clearly comes from a culture where people live in close quarters, both physically and emotionally.
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
The informant explains that her father would tell her this as a child growing up and still tells her this today. The informant explains that her father would give her this piece of advice when she was stressed out over different things in her life. The informant explains that she interprets this proverb as a way of explaining that the best way to tackle a large problem or obstacle ahead of you is to approach is step by step; not try to conquer it all at once. The informant explains that this proverb allows her to step away from the situation and analyze how to approach a problem with a better plan for tackling it.
This proverb relates to other proverbs, which promote facing a problem slowly and thoughtfully such as when people say, “baby steps, baby steps.” Proverbs such as these suggest that Americans support the idea of breaking large problems down into smaller pieces in order to defeat the challenges in a better fashion.