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 g...