Grandma’s Sayings
Oscar Teliz told me his grandmother used to say in Spanish, “No hay mal que dure cien anos, ni cuerpo que lo soporte” which is an obscure saying meaning, “No bad occurrence will last forever, and if it did, you wouldn’t be able to stand it anyway.”
My grandma always said, “What will be, will be.” In other words, “Don’t worry about it! The future will take care of itself.”
Feel free to share your grandmother’s sayings or words of wisdom with us in the comments below!
Mama Lisa
October 19th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
MY grandmother said that whatever petty complaint we had (an itch, a bruise, a cut) meant we’d be “dead in three days” and that if we’re hungry we should “eat the right hand, save the other for tomorrow”.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I have one not PC from my great-grandma. She used to say “El que nace bajo una mala estrella, del cielo le cae mierda” =”He who was born under a bad star, s&*% falls down upon him from the sky/heavens”.
My great-grandmother had a more PC one “El que nace bajo una mala estrella siempre va estrellado” = “He who was born under a bad star is always smashed”. In Spanish there’s the play on words “estrella/estrellado”. “Estrella” is a star, so you could think that the verb “estrellar” would be something like being shiny/sparkling/brilliant (something looking as beautiful as a star). “Estrellar” means smashed – usually it’s used in a reflexive way (estrellarse) = to smash oneself, to crash – I suppose because of the starry shape of things once they’ve been crashed/smashed.
When we have an unexpected amount of money to pay and we wonder how we’ll manage, my mother usually says in French, “D’autres choses se sont payées, celles-là se paieront”. It means, “Other things were payed, those will be payed too”, meaning “you managed to pay other expenses, you will for those too”. Which doesn’t mean it will be easy but that it can be done.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Monique wrote: My grandfather would say in Spanish, “Nunca se ha visto a un loco tirar piedras a su tejado” = “Nobody ever saw a lunatic/mad man throw stones at his own roof”, meaning people never go against their own interests. He would also say, “Vale más pan duro que ninguno” = “Better have hard bread than none”.
My mother still says, “No pidas a quien pidió ni sirvas a quien sirvió” = “Don’t ask who asked nor serve who served”. “Ask” in the sense of “beg” not “ask a question”, meaning that someone who once was in need and is now well off won’t probably give you anything even help, and someone who once was obliged to be someone else’s servant and is now well off will be a bad boss.
We too were told “mange ta main et garde l’autre pour demain” when hungry at “undue” time. Meaning, “Eat your hand and save the other for tomorrow”.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:26 am
I also have one in both Occitan and Spanish, Oc. “Cada topin trapa son coberton” = “Every pot finds its own lid”, Sp. “Para cada olla hay su tapadera” = “For every pot there’s its own lid” that actually mean “there’s a boy for every girl” if you’re single and get desperate to find your Prince Charming. It works the other way round too for boys who didn’t meet their Sleeping Beauty yet.