Tag Archives: proverb

“You look like an Indian that just struck oil.”

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Asset Manager
Residence: Nashville, TN
Performance Date: 3/20/2013
Primary Language: English

“It means that… if somebody says it to you, it means that you have recently come into some type of money. And you have spent it all on clothing. You’re all fussed up.  You have bought a lot of expensive clothing and you are wearing it.  It’s like you’re wearing your money.”

The informant heard this from her father.  He used to always say it when she and her sister would get dressed up to go out for something.  He thought it was funny.  The informant said, “He was making fun of you dressing up.  He didn’t like to get dressed up so he would put ‘dressing up’ down.”

The informant said she would only ever say the proverb around her immediate family because she thinks that it is racist, but the informant remembers her father saying it as a pleasant memory.  As a child, she did not understand the “racist implications,” and she thought it was funny because he was joking around and happy, and he didn’t do that all that often.

I have never heard this proverb before probably for the same reason that my informant does not like to repeat it.  I have heard proverbs that spread a similar message that usually discourage people from showing their wealth to others.

“Always try to look at it from another person’s point of view.”

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Asset Manager
Residence: Nashville, TN
Performance Date: 3/20/2013
Primary Language: English

“It was something my dad told me, and I really liked it.  It stuck with me.  Usually it would be because my sister and I were fighting.  He wanted me to have compassion for my sister who had kind of a tough childhood for a number of reasons, but I don’t know that it really helped me that much for her.  It helped me many other times.  We are all ego centric and we look at things from our point of view.  Sometimes when you pause, you can realize where other people are coming from and it benefits you also in so many ways.  You can be more compassionate because you understand them.  Not manipulate, but you can change the situation so both people get more of what they want.  Its just smarter. Its just plain smarter not to live only in your own mind.  You really should do that.  You can use it to your advantage in addition to helping someone else.”

The informant relies a lot on having compassion and understanding for others, but she also understands that by helping others sometimes you can help yourself.  Hearing this as a child has helped her better understand how to deal with people in her present.  This goes to show how some things really stick with children and the weight that proverbs can carry as wisdom from an “older generation.”

“If you don’t try, you’re lazy.”

Nationality: American
Age: 58
Occupation: Hotel Owner/Manager
Residence: Nashville, TN
Performance Date: 3/20/2013
Primary Language: English

The informant shared this proverb that he learned from his father in law.  I laughed when he said it, but he asserted, “It’s actually quite a good one though.  I learned that from him.”

The informant learned it in the context of their shared business.  To him, it means that “if you just, when something comes up, if you don’t try to resolve it or if you just do nothing, then you are lazy. Also if you can do better, but you don’t try new things because it is too much work…  You should always try things or else you are lazy.”

He uses the proverb when talking to his employees.  He says that they never try new things; they just do.  They think that this is how they have always done it so they just continue even if it isn’t working, but he tells them this so that they will try something new.

I think the proverb is very true especially to the more modern generations who rely more on technology to get things done.  I think the proverb is really saying not to complain if you aren’t going to do something to change the situation.

 

“You should always smile at everyone because it might be the only one they get all day.”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Encinitas, CA
Performance Date: 3/24/2013
Primary Language: English

“My great-grandpa always used to tell my grandma and then my mom, and my mom always told me.  It’s just a stupid little saying.

‘You should always smile at everyone because it might be the only one they get all day.’

I always liked it.”

The informant said the proverb stuck with her because so many people don’t give eye contact nowadays.  She said that her great-grandfather was always so happy all of the time.  He was from a small town in California, and he would smile at everyone and be happy all the time.  “How could someone be that happy all the time?”

The informant passes the proverb around to others often.  On one occasion, she was at a movie theater and she was very kind and friendly to the person taking tickets.  Her friend asked her why she was always so happy, and she told him the saying.  The informant believes that, “Every one is so cynical nowadays. Not everything needs to be ironic.”

The proverb really connects with her and makes her a more optimistic and happy person.  I like the idea that the proverb gets across of spreading joy around so that others can share in your happiness even for just a second.

Annotation: A variation was found on a quotes website.  The quote was originally taken from the film P.S. I Love You:

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.

Brown, H. “Quotations About Smiles.” Welcome to the Quote Garden. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. <http://www.quotegarden.com/smiles.html>.

The Fist Rule

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Encinitas, CA
Performance Date: 3/24/2013
Primary Language: English

“Dad always told me, and his dad told his sisters that ‘if you can’t fit a fist in your jeans, they are too tight.’  I forget what it was about the top.  It was something funny.  It was a rule of thumb.  If they couldn’t put their fists in their pockets then they couldn’t go out.”

The informant thinks the rule is silly, but her personal style has been very impacted by the saying.  “Why do you think I wear such baggy clothing?”  She remembers her father telling her to go change, and she would put on the polar opposite (baggy sweatpants).  The informant doesn’t really seem to have minded the rule, but she is more open now to wearing tighter clothing than she was allowed to before.

Proverbs and little phrases like the one above get more contextualized in people’s personal lives more than they may realize.  Though the informant recognized that she wore baggier clothing for her father’s approval at first, she later became more attracted to that type of clothing without thinking about the proverb.  Folklore has a large though sometimes invisible influence on all aspects of life.