GUANO, GOLD AND SHIRTSLEEVES

From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations
Padres jornaleros, hijos caballeros y nietos mendrugueros

I have always maintained that proverbs were not folk wisdom. Of late, however, perhaps it is advancing doting old age, I have begun to reconsider my stance. There may indeed be some truth in certain proverbs.

As I am adding them to my phraseological dictionary (they are set phrases, after all), I keep thinking about the possible “wisdom” hidden in them. While searching for citations to from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations, I relized it holds true in my own family.

My great-grandfather, Bartolomé Carbonell Sirera, built an empire importing guano from Chile to Spain and Europe. At one point, he even owned a fleet of three ships. Before that, he had been a bookkeeper for a company in Valencia. He had five daughters and two sons, and all of them, including the sons-in-law, lived off his fortune.

When he died, that immense wealth had dwindled to a single apartment building at calle Bonaire, 16. His grandchildren and great-grandchildren had to return to shirtsleeves and fend for themselves.

The Spanish equivalent is not quite as pithy as the English, but it will do: Padres jornaleros, hijos caballeros y nietos mendrugueros.

--“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” — J. Krantz, Princess Daisy, 1980 (UK)
--“Wealth never survives three generations. Nineteenth-century Americans updated it to read: From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” — Christian Science Monitor, 13 Mar. 2006 (US)