Guess the Cultural "Proverb"

[Neto]

I don't know if I can explain this very well, but I thought of a cultural proverb my parents used to say, to tell us not to sing at the table.

So here is a comment I made to my Mom once, back when I was in my upper 20's, and still living at home.

"I'm almost ready to start singing at the table."

Now, What is the cultural proverb? (I realize that if no one has ever heard it, then this won't work. But I'll let it go for a bit, then give the answer if there is no response. Then I'd welcome people putting up stuff like this of their own. And I fully realize that there may never be a 'taker' on this 'offer'.)

[RZehr]

I never heard that before.

[temporal1]

I never heard that before.

nor i. but it sounds like a good one.
and, i like the general OP idea.

[Grace]

Just a side note. In the conservative Anabaptist churches there Are no song leaders that stand up front to lead singing. The song leaders sit at a table in the center of the church close to the preachers table. I suspect this was a custom in many churches in the past. The song leaders table is called the “singing table”.

[Neto]

Perhaps I was not very clear, so let me try again. This was a hairy idea that just popped into my head, and I was trying to think how to write it up.

The actual "proverb" is missing - I only put in my comment in response to the situation I found myself in at that age. So here's another hint - Since I was still living at home while in my upper 20's, I was unmarried.

But maybe the saying which I am hoping someone can guess or remember was something only my parents said, and then this exercise will be a failure. (I thought it was a general saying, but then I'm also from a different culture and home area from everyone else on this forum, so there is that as well. Reminds me of the song leading class I had in Bible college. Each student was required to create a "song service program", and lead the class in singing the chosen songs. Being basically the only Mennonite in the whole school, and having grown up in a different cultural area of the States, the "old familiar" songs I chose were almost all completely unknown to the entire class. I ended up standing in the front of the class waving my arms in time, but singing solos. And I am not a soloist at all.)

I'll leave this a bit longer, then I'll "spill the beans" so to speak, and maybe someone else can come up with a better one to do this with.

[Neto]

Just a side note. In the conservative Anabaptist churches there Are no song leaders that stand up front to lead singing. The song leaders sit at a table in the center of the church close to the preachers table. I suspect this was a custom in many churches in the past. The song leaders table is called the “singing table”.

OK, I've never heard that before. I had wondered if I needed to define the "table" referred to more fully. I almost wrote "supper table", or "dinner table", but those are terms that I suspect we use differently in my cultural background. Someone asked me recently what we called the two meals in the latter part of the day, the one at noon, and the one in the evening. I answered that it depends on which one was the main meal. If the main meal was at noon, then you had Dinner and Supper. If the main meal was in the evening, then you had Lunch and Dinner. And on Sunday, the small evening meal before evening church service (always consisting of at least Zweibach, a PlautDeitsch bread) was called "faspa", a PlautDeitsch word, I believe.

[silentreader]

Perhaps I was not very clear, so let me try again. This was a hairy idea that just popped into my head, and I was trying to think how to write it up.

The actual "proverb" is missing - I only put in my comment in response to the situation I found myself in at that age. So here's another hint - Since I was still living at home while in my upper 20's, I was unmarried.

But maybe the saying which I am hoping someone can guess or remember was something only my parents said, and then this exercise will be a failure. (I thought it was a general saying, but then I'm also from a different culture and home area from everyone else on this forum, so there is that as well. Reminds me of the song leading class I had in Bible college. Each student was required to create a "song service program", and lead the class in singing the chosen songs. Being basically the only Mennonite in the whole school, and having grown up in a different cultural area of the States, the "old familiar" songs I chose were almost all completely unknown to the entire class. I ended up standing in the front of the class waving my arms in time, but singing solos. And I am not a soloist at all.)

I'll leave this a bit longer, then I'll "spill the beans" so to speak, and maybe someone else can come up with a better one to do this with.

The admonishment at home about singing at the table was, "Du grigsht a shvatze frau."

[Neto]

Perhaps I was not very clear, so let me try again. This was a hairy idea that just popped into my head, and I was trying to think how to write it up.

The actual "proverb" is missing - I only put in my comment in response to the situation I found myself in at that age. So here's another hint - Since I was still living at home while in my upper 20's, I was unmarried.

But maybe the saying which I am hoping someone can guess or remember was something only my parents said, and then this exercise will be a failure. (I thought it was a general saying, but then I'm also from a different culture and home area from everyone else on this forum, so there is that as well. Reminds me of the song leading class I had in Bible college. Each student was required to create a "song service program", and lead the class in singing the chosen songs. Being basically the only Mennonite in the whole school, and having grown up in a different cultural area of the States, the "old familiar" songs I chose were almost all completely unknown to the entire class. I ended up standing in the front of the class waving my arms in time, but singing solos. And I am not a soloist at all.)

I'll leave this a bit longer, then I'll "spill the beans" so to speak, and maybe someone else can come up with a better one to do this with.

The admonishment at home about singing at the table was, "Du grigsht a shvatze frau."

I think we've got a winner here, but I need a translation of the word "shvatze". Sounds like "dark", but if so, then it's not the same saying exactly, but the same general reference. (I know enough PA German to understand the rest of the sentence, and I think I get that word, it's just not the same meaning.)

[silentreader]

Perhaps I was not very clear, so let me try again. This was a hairy idea that just popped into my head, and I was trying to think how to write it up.

The actual "proverb" is missing - I only put in my comment in response to the situation I found myself in at that age. So here's another hint - Since I was still living at home while in my upper 20's, I was unmarried.

But maybe the saying which I am hoping someone can guess or remember was something only my parents said, and then this exercise will be a failure. (I thought it was a general saying, but then I'm also from a different culture and home area from everyone else on this forum, so there is that as well. Reminds me of the song leading class I had in Bible college. Each student was required to create a "song service program", and lead the class in singing the chosen songs. Being basically the only Mennonite in the whole school, and having grown up in a different cultural area of the States, the "old familiar" songs I chose were almost all completely unknown to the entire class. I ended up standing in the front of the class waving my arms in time, but singing solos. And I am not a soloist at all.)

I'll leave this a bit longer, then I'll "spill the beans" so to speak, and maybe someone else can come up with a better one to do this with.

The admonishment at home about singing at the table was, "Du grigsht a shvatze frau."

I think we've got a winner here, but I need a translation of the word "shvatze". Sounds like "dark", but if so, then it's not the same saying exactly, but the same general reference. (I know enough PA German to understand the rest of the sentence, and I think I get that word, it's just not the same meaning.)

"Shvatz" or "shvartz" in our setting usually meant "black", but it may have referenced something else which I didn't understand.

[Biblical Anabaptist]

I don't remember ever hearing a proverb, but I know as children growing up we were not allowed to sing at the table. I don't know I was ever given a reason. Perhaps the rule was because of the proverb but that part was never passed on.