Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Probverbs

If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry.
-- African Proverb

Mmm, OK.

And if you refuse to lie down when you're purple, you'll have to stand up when you're magenta.

And if you fly horizontal when you're happy, your feet will itch when you're educated.

If squares flirt with triangles at night, morning comes early on Mars.

Red skies in your mind means little rocks and noodles in the path of the righteous man.
----
Update: OK, I better confess, I do understand the African proverb. I imagine it means it is easier to learn when you are young than when you're old. Which is clearly true. But it still rubs me the wrong way, humans are not things. And to use the image "to make straight" for learning is offensive to humans as a whole. As if we are just wood to be used as tools for somebody else.
It is offensive, and it is important because many people actually have this attitude: young people are tools to be molded to fit into the great machine of society, to become perfect and pliable clerks and workmen, not to make trouble, only to be productive in an average and predictable way.
It is an insidious evil.
(OK, maybe the original proverb was not supposed to mean that, but there we are.)

10 comments:

Hannah said...

Maybe it's a typo and meant to be "If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you cannot be made straight when you are dry" ?

I have a very similar quote in my collection:

"If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry."
- African Proverb

And that, to my mind, makes things far more logical. But then, to quote someone else...

"Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another."
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

LOL I love quotes. :)

And to make one last point:

"If you believe everything you read, better not read."
- Japanese Proverb

Rich said...

I think it's a pretty good quote. Green pertaining to unseasoned or new wood. Wood still containing moisture and more workable than a dry piece that has taken a set. Green wood is good for shaping, bad for burning in my fireplace. Perhaps there's another quote to be gleaned from this.

Rich

Anonymous said...

"When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical,
And all the birds in the trees, well theyd'd be singing so happily, oh joyfully playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, oh responsible, practical.
And then they showed me a world where I could be so dependable, oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical."

-Supertramp-

Anonymous said...

"If triangles had a God, they'd picture Him with three sides." Yiddish proverb

Okay, so it' brings nothing to the debate. But it sounds quite cool to cite. :-)

Oh, and... I recently read a whole book of African tales and folklore. On this continent, education, following tradition, listening to the elders, are considered paramount. It's their culture. Which will reflect in their proverbs.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Funny, I've always pictured God with three sides. A benevolent one, a vengeful one, and a whimsical one.

Anonymous said...

eolake said...
Funny, I've always pictured God with three sides. A benevolent one, a vengeful one, and a whimsical one.

God is a trinity. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. 3. But all three are ONE.

Anonymous said...

Groucho Marx interviewing a woman who had 27 children, asked her "Why so many kids?" The best answer she could give was: "I love my husband." Groucho replied: "Sure baby, and I love my cigar too. But I take it out every once in a while."

To Wonko,
That was very funny! Thanks for sharing. I'm still laughing. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, and... I recently read a whole book of African tales and folklore.

Where could I get this African book?

Anonymous said...

angie said...
Oh, and... I recently read a whole book of African tales and folklore.

Where could I get this African book?

Angie, leave these people alone, mainly the young gentleman called Lucid.

Lucid, please overlook my servant. Often she speaks without my permission on different blogs and chatrooms.
I want her to learn not to destroy our way of thinking or speaking. But I can only teach her so much.
On behalf of the "boy wonder" statement, I regret that. Overlook her. She will be warned not to do this again.

Anonymous said...

"Where could I get this African book? "
Happy to oblige, Angie. Here's the reference :

FABLES FROM AFRICA
Jan Knappert, © 1980
Published by Evans Brothers Limited


Holland-born J. Knappert spent 25 years (at the time the book was published) studying african languages and cultures, and compiled these oral tales himself during his many travels. Good luck finding this old title today.