CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT

Today, this afternoon I decided to call it a day and dragged myself away from the computer. I zapped away from channel to channel trying to find a TV program of interest when I heard a lady say that "la curiosidad mató al gato" and the interviewer saying: "¡Correcto, ese es el refrán!" I jumped up and opened my computer in search of such a "Spanish refrán". CREA does not list it. CORDE shows 5 hits. The earliest is dated 1983, ABC: "... que la curiosidad mató al gato." Up till 1983 this business about the cat was unknown in Spanish, and instead the expression "ver, oír y callar" was used: “Mi padre me repetía constantemente que yo tenía que ver, oír y callar.” (El Mundo, 30/09/1995. Esp.)

Other versions are: Oír, ver y callar, son cosas de gran preciar. El que del mundo quiere gozar, debe de ver, oír y callar.

And what about the original English Curiosity killed the cat?  Beware of poking your nose into the affairs of others; it may get you into trouble. It seems it first appeared in an Irish newspaper in 1868. Wikipedia offers no light as to where it came from or how it came about. In the Dictionary of Proverbs and their origins (Linda and Roger Flavell) we can read. "Disappointingly, this proverb has no intriguing story behind it, but a quaint rhyming version of unknown origin explains why the cat died: Curiosity killed the cat / Information made her fat." So, you had your fun, the tale is done!