When you are learning a language, sometimes you understand the words themselves but not the meaning when they're put together. Today Samuel quoted a local proverb and I just didn't get it! The proverb was:
Prison isn't for sheep.
Okaaaaay...? No matter how much I tried to get my brain round that, it still didn't make any sense to me (apart from supposing that the literal meaning is true!).
So Samuel explained that the proverb is quoted by anyone feeling rebellious. They say that prison isn't for sheep, it's for people, ie. they would feel quite at home there, so the threat of it isn't going to put them off breaking the law.
Although I felt enlightened by the explanation, I still found it rather weird reasoning … but that may well be a cultural thing too! Or just the fact that I have always been very law-abiding :o)
Another culture-learning experience we had was to learn a local card game, having the rules explained to us in Monkolé. It was fun, but I'm not likely to play much. I suspected it would be just the men who play, and Samuel confirmed this, saying that women don't have time to. (This was confirmed by a local woman I talked to later on, and she didn't seem to mind!)
Here are Marc and the pastor playing, with Simon looking on (and camouflaging well into Marc's shirt!).
Prison isn't for sheep.
Okaaaaay...? No matter how much I tried to get my brain round that, it still didn't make any sense to me (apart from supposing that the literal meaning is true!).
So Samuel explained that the proverb is quoted by anyone feeling rebellious. They say that prison isn't for sheep, it's for people, ie. they would feel quite at home there, so the threat of it isn't going to put them off breaking the law.
Although I felt enlightened by the explanation, I still found it rather weird reasoning … but that may well be a cultural thing too! Or just the fact that I have always been very law-abiding :o)
Another culture-learning experience we had was to learn a local card game, having the rules explained to us in Monkolé. It was fun, but I'm not likely to play much. I suspected it would be just the men who play, and Samuel confirmed this, saying that women don't have time to. (This was confirmed by a local woman I talked to later on, and she didn't seem to mind!)
Here are Marc and the pastor playing, with Simon looking on (and camouflaging well into Marc's shirt!).
3 comments:
i have to say I'm with you on not understanding that proverb, even with your explanation :-)
I love African proverbs! Nice one! Particularly, "It takes a whole village to bring up a child".
In Mali, we have this one: "However long a log stays in the water, it will never become a crocodile" (equiv. to 'a leopard never changes its spots, I think).
The wierdest one I heard (from Burkina Faso, I think) is: "Malgré la beauté du cadavre, il faut l'enterrer" (ie, all good things must come to an end). Strange though, and wouldn't work in our culture!!!
Great blog - keep up the good work (mission AND blogging!!!)
Love it.
I was trying to remember Spanish idioms that caused me most confusion, and it's taken me a while.
"Más listo que el hambre"
(Smarter than hunger)
I mean, obviously it means "very clever", but seriously - hunger?!?!? What's that all about?
And to reject someone's advances is to give them pumpkins... Bizarre.
Post a Comment