Tag Archives: truth

Minor Genre: Proverb – Truth

  1. Text: “Από μικρό και από τρελό μαθαίνεις την αλήθεια.” or “From a child and from a madman, you learn the truth.”
  2. Informants context: When I was a kid, I was sometimes difficult to deal with. Maybe oftentimes. I was really energetic and rambunctious. You could imagine me as being pretty ADHD. My parents always were going back and forth trying to get a handle of me, particularly my mom who was most responsible for disciplining me. I had an issue with self-regulating, often saying out of line, maybe socially awkward things that would be perceived as rude. For example, during one summer my family was having a pool day. This meant that my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc were all present as we hung out. We got a great barbecue going. I have one older cousin who is my senior by about fourteen years. At this time I was probably seven years old. Long story short, while we were in the pool with our shirts off, I saw my older cousin and noticed that he was looking a lot heavier. So I just told him very directly that him and I should work out together because he’s been getting fat. I’m not sure what I was thinking because I didn’t even know how to work out at that time. My mom was in close-proximity while I said this and immediately snapped at me. She told me to apologize and take it back. I don’t think my cousin cared that much but I was pretty paralyzed in that moment. I apologized and felt like garbage. Later my Yiayia (grandmother) was talking about what I said with some of the other women, and then she pulled me into the conversation, laughing. She shared the expression, “Από μικρό και από τρελό μαθαίνεις την αλήθεια.” or “From a child and from a madman, you learn the truth.” My grandmother actually agreed that my cousin needed to get himself in better shape. I didn’t fully understand the saying at the time, but it always stuck with me. Now that I’m older, it seems increasingly clear that it requires someone unfiltered to give us full truths on difficult topics. It’s something my grandmother continues to say to this day. It’s one of her many sayings that she sourced from her time in Greece.
  3. Collectors interpretation: The concept of the child or madman as a source of truth is almost a radical concept. There are multiple possible implications of such a statement. Firstly being what the informant mentioned: the unadulterated truth will only be given by people untethered by social norms. This implies that truth is rarely spoken for in fear of people being persecuted. The second implication is that it requires the uninhibited mind of a child or crazed person in order to allow truthful thoughts to emerge. These are fascinating concepts. Ultimately, the proverb functions well because of how simple it is despite the complexity of its idea. Additionally, it feels distinctly folkloric as it stems from the small villages of Greece. The actual implications of this proverb on Greek culture are multi-varied. I believe the proverb implies that the culture is self-aware, honest about its shortcomings and irreverent of consequences. This is the mentality of a culture that values genuine honesty, even when its not practical or politically smart. This also echoes a Christian proverb: “And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'” Children and madmen are pure in a way, abandoning political maneuvering in favor of genuine honesty, regardless of the consequences.

Fields

AGE: 21

Date_of_performance: May 9, 2025

Language: English

Nationality: American/Greek

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States of America

Bocca Della Verità

Context: B is a 22 year old University student who grew up in California. B moved to Italy roughly four years ago where he is actively pursuing a degree in archeology. His classwork often has him interacting with artifacts and ancient sites. This account was collected over a phone call. 

B: “In terms of folklore I’ve encountered in Rome, I really love the Bocca della Verità (mouth of truth) and it’s said that in the olden days if you put your hand in the mouth and said a lie then it would bite your hand off. Outside of that you have your typical ‘Julius Caesar haunts this area and emperor Nero haunts that area’ but those are less accredited, and are all across Italy.”

Analysis: The legacy of Caesar and Nero can still be seen across Italy, throughout the folk claiming their spirits reside in iconic locations, like the Colosseum or the Vatican circus. Also the legend of the Bocca Della Verità lets us know that truth was considered a very important aspect of at least ancient roman culture, as a lie is worth losing a hand over. 

“One man always lies” Riddle

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Berkeley, CA
Performance Date: 05/03/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

“Ok, wait, so you’re in a prison, there’s two knights guarding two doors. One always tells the truth and one always lies. One of the doors leads to your freedom, and one leads to instant death. What is the one question you ask to get to freedom? You can only ask one question to one of the knights.”

“So the answer is “Which door would the other knight say leads to freedom?” Because if you ask the knight who tells the truth, they would point to the door that leads to death because that’s the door the liar would point at, and if you ask the knight who lies, they’ll lie and say the knight who tells the truth will point at the door that leads to death. Either way, you’ll be able to figure out which one leads to freedom.”

Context:

 The informant is my friend. He is a sophomore at UC Berkeley and is Jewish. He has been sharing riddles with me since high school. This information was collected during a FaceTime call. 

Analysis:

This is a very classic riddle that embodies the concept of “multiplicity and variation.” I have heard versions of this riddle that take place at a fork in the road, in a basement, and even in space! This riddle is even featured as a part of the plot in the movie Labyrinth. Even though the setting of the riddle changes, the core stays the same. There is always one person who lies and one person who tells the truth. Additionally, no one knows where this riddle originated, which further cements this riddles place as a part of folklore. 

Keartes, Sarah. “How to Beat the LABYRINTH Two-Door Riddle.” Nerdist, Geek Sundry, 14 Jan. 2016, 4:30 pm, nerdist.com/article/how-to-beat-the-labyrinth-two-door-riddle/.

Av barn og fulle folk får ein høyre sanninga

Nationality: American
Age: 62
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Corona del Mar, California
Primary Language: English

“Av barn og fulle folk får ein høyre sanninga.”

“From children and drunk people we hear the truth.”

Context: The informant’s grandmother was a Norwegian immigrant with many peculiar sayings. This was his favorite, as it gave him a rare sense of power as a child.

Interpretation: Because sober adults often act in their own self-interest and mask their intentions with flattery and deceit, it has been said in more than one language that honesty is reserved for children who have not yet learned to lie and manipulate and drunk people who do not have the mental capacity to mask their feelings and intentions. This can be used, as is the case with my informant, to empower children and encourage them to maintain their honesty and forthrightness. It can also make adults more likely to share their true feelings because it indirectly shames their general dishonesty. Lastly, it makes people more receptive to the thoughts and feelings of children and drunk people, who are both often overlooked because they are seen as foolish and incapable of sharing knowledge.

 

Gesture: “Occhio”

Nationality: Italian American
Age: 62
Occupation: Professor
Residence: United States
Performance Date: 03/30/2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian and French

Main Piece: “When Italians want to point out cleverness, they use a gesture rather than words. They take their finger and they pull down on the bottom of their eye, which opens the eye more, and that indicates that this person is clever in the sense that they are sly. There’s another way…I’m not positive…to pull the cheek down to open the eye.”

Background: The informant would often see this gesture when people would try to speak about another person without using words. According to the informant, instead of verbally communicating, a physical gesture is used because it is universal and non-confrontational. This gesture isn’t always used as a compliment, it can be a mark of dissaproval. This gesture is done to another person, communicating this thought of cleverness about the other.

Performance Context: The informant sat across from me at a table outside.

My Thoughts: Using a physical gesture as a medium of foklore is a noteworthy method of communication. Its physical nature, rather than verbal, can be comprehended universally, as the informant noted. The opening of the eye seems to be a watchful, all-knowing way of letting the receiver know his/her slyness is recognized. Although this gesture may not mean the same things in a variation of contexts, the eye is the watcher, the giver of sight and truth. It is also interesting that this mark of cleverness is not always a compliment. Being sly versus being clever is a mark of acceptable versus unacceptable.

For further reference see: http://en.blog.hotelnights.com/italian-gesture-language/ for alternative explanation of the gesture.