Guess the Cultural "Proverb"

[wesleyb]

"If you eat everything on the table it will rain."

[Neto]

Some cultural proverbs I heard growing up.

If it rains on your wedding day, you will have a sloppy husband.

These were some of my mother's cleaning culture "proverbs".

If you sweep the dirt under the rug, you will sweep your spiritual dirt under the rug as well.

If you don't clean the corners good, you will not keep the corners of your life clean either.

My mother had a way to spiritualize cleaning, but it sure left an indelible impression on me.

One of my Dad's "keep the house warm" proverbs.

Shut your doors, your letting the heat out, you weren't born in a barn.

I could never figure out what the barn had to do with not closing doors.

My Dad would say "We're not trying to heat the great out-doors."

But on the barn door deal, I often heard that one too, but as a question: "Close the door - were you born in a barn?" (With the next-state-over slam variation: "Close the door - were you born in Arkansas?" My apologies to anyone here from Arkansas - they're actually great folks in my experience, and us Okies aren't really much different in most ways, at least us northeast Okies, which area borders on both Arkansas and Missouri. Those are also places where there are good down-home folks.)

[Neto]

It went something like this, "If you hold the chopsticks close to the tips when you eat, then __________________________, but if you hold them near the back ___________________________."

You've got me on that one.

[Neto]

Possibly related is a Cantonese proverb about how one holds chopsticks that I heard from international students. Neto, how does this work, am I to say it outright?

You can do it anyway you wish, but what I was trying to do was to quote someone who made a comment that would not be understood if the listener had not heard a specific saying or proverb.

Maybe I thought of this also because my sons were talking recently about books that are full of comments that are only understood if the reader knows some other work, whether a Shakespeare play, a poem, a classic, a certain movie, etc. I read something some years ago about how much of the figures of speech we use depends on knowledge of the Bible, and perhaps specifically familiarity with the KJV. It is an area of linguistic study that can be really fascinating (maybe not for everyone... ).

[barnhart]

...I read something some years ago about how much of the figures of speech we use depends on knowledge of the Bible, and perhaps specifically familiarity with the KJV...

Years ago I took a Syntax class and when a vexing grammatical construction presented on a test, I would roll through my KJV memory passages until I found a parallel usage. As far as I can recall the success rate was %100.

[temporal1]

Possibly related is a Cantonese proverb about how one holds chopsticks that I heard from international students. Neto, how does this work, am I to say it outright?

You can do it anyway you wish, but what I was trying to do was to quote someone who made a comment that would not be understood if the listener had not heard a specific saying or proverb.

Maybe I thought of this also because my sons were talking recently about books that are full of comments that are only understood if the reader knows some other work, whether a Shakespeare play, a poem, a classic, a certain movie, etc.

I read something some years ago about how much of the figures of speech we use depends on knowledge of the Bible, and perhaps specifically familiarity with the KJV.

It is an area of linguistic study that can be really fascinating (maybe not for everyone... ).

It is fascinating.

i’d like to add .. much of the time, it’s not that what’s wriiten cannot be at all understood, but, decidedly, reading in context, understanding with greater perspective, enhances understanding, as nothing else. There’s no real shortcut around it.

To me, it reflects what scriptures refer to as “milk and meat.” Milk is good! But there is more. There is always more.
Understanding in language context is part of “more.”

[Neto]

Mixed metaphors are also things which require knowledge of elements left out of the conversation. For instance, another Bible translator - linguist in Brazil liked to talk about "burning the midnight oil at both ends".

There are also colloquial expressions in every language that just don't translate, and are not understandable w/o some additional body of knowledge. An example from Brazilian Portuguese (literally translated): "What a pineapple!" Any guesses as to what sort of situation would elicit this exclamation?

[I'll wait for some guesses on this one before 'spilling the beans" - very possibly Spanish as spoken in Latin America also has this expression.]

Forgive me for getting off on this, but I think this has repercussions for how we should think about Bible translation. [In respect to the controversy of "word-for-word" vs so-called "thought-for-thought" ( we called it "dynamic translation" translation).] One example: Paul, when he said that the Judaizers should "just go the whole way and emasculate themselves". I do not think it should be translated that way, because I think there is a double meaning there that is lost when it is rendered that way. Sure, the average reader may not 'get it' (unless they have an extensive knowledge of OT Law), but I think that he intended to suggest that by their actions they were "cutting themselves off (from the people of God)".

[silentreader]

Is anyone familiar with the proverb re taking a bigger load then you can really handle so that you don't need to make as many trips?

[Grace]

My Dad would say "We're not trying to heat the great out-doors."

But on the barn door deal, I often heard that one too, but as a question: "Close the door - were you born in a barn?" (With the next-state-over slam variation: "Close the door - were you born in Arkansas?" My apologies to anyone here from Arkansas - they're actually great folks in my experience, and us Okies aren't really much different in most ways, at least us northeast Okies, which area borders on both Arkansas and Missouri. Those are also places where there are good down-home folks.)

Since Pennsylvania Dutch was the dialect we spoke in our home, if my Dad spoke English, he would use the Dutch word sequence, "make the door shut" instead of "close the door". So much of our Dutch was infused with English words, and our English was infused with dutch words.

There are still some descriptive words that are so much easier to use than the English variation.

Don't "Rutsch" around so much in church.

And that dirty person is just "gritzlicht".

Every one has people in their lives who are "arme drept".

[Neto]

Is anyone familiar with the proverb re taking a bigger load then you can really handle so that you don't need to make as many trips?

I don't think this is what you're referring to, but I often say "What ever you do, don't make two trips." (So I overload myself. But with heavier things, weighing in at less than 135, and now past 66, I'm learning more and more to break that 'rule'.)