LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

He tenido largas y malas experiencias con la justicia. Por cabezonería y por creer que tenía razón, me he metido en pleitos que me han amargado la vida. Nunca hice caso del viejo refrán que aconseja: más vale mala avenencia (ajuste, arreglo) que buena sentencia , porque los pleitos, aunque se ganen, son siempre desastrosos. Lo sabré yo. Hasta en lengua inglesa se nos advierte: Better a poor compromise than a strong case. En su libro El espíritu de Sancho Panza (2000), Amando de Miguel observa: “La desconfianza hacia los jueces es más bien hacia el sistema judicial, que lo hace lento y oneroso. La sabiduría popular entiende que hay que evitar los pleitos tanto como se pueda.” Y mucho antes, en 1863, J. Guim aconsejaba en su Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana : “Las más de las veces es preferible perder uno algo de su derecho o renunciar a él, que sujetarlo a la decisión de la curia, de cuyas manos suele salir siempre en camisa el que gana y en cueros el que pierde.” ...

 A lady on Instagram shared her thoughts on the Chinese philosophy of life. She was saying that the Chinese are very wise and that they have several proverbs about what to do after eating. Yes, it is an ancient culture, but Western languages also reflect the same wisdom the lady was talking about. Spanish says: "en todas partes cuecen habas", or everywhere dogs bite, especially rabid ones. Let's look at recommendations in both English and Spanish as to what is best to do after lunch and supper in order to live a long life: La comida reposada y la cena paseada After dinner sit (sleep) a while, after supper walk a mile Siempre tomo la siesta porque la comida reposada y la cena paseada I always take a nap because after dinner sleep a while, after supper walk a mile After dinner sit (sleep) a while, after supper walk a mile La comida reposada y la cena paseada I always take a nap because after dinner sleep a while, after supper walk a mile Siempre tomo la siesta porque la com...

I have heard of late that the WOKE movement is on the wane so I have decided to venture to post this humorous entry in its wake, hoping we are getting back hold of our senses and the freedom we had before. In former times, when proverbs were invented, long ago, speakers were not afraid to express and air their humor to all and sundry to hear and enjoy. The joke was that wives were the mistresses of the home and had husbands on short leashes, and shouted and domineered them at will. To express the helplessness and mortification of husbands, this funny Latin expression was coined: Sunt tria damna domus: imber, mala femina, fumus, which seeped into Spanish and English as: Tres cosas echan a un hombre de la casa fuera: el humo, la gotera y la mujer vocinglera, Three things drive a man out of his house: smoke, rain, and a scolding wife. 

Fling enough dirt (mud) and some will stick , says the old proverb, which translates as "calumnia, que algo queda." Attack an opponent repeatedly and some of the accusations will be believed. This saying is very dear to politicians. Never look a gift horse in the mouth , or in Spanish "a caballo regalado no le mires el dentado (diente.) Refrain from finding fault with gifts that are given free of charge. And folk wisdom tells us that nothing ventured, nothing gained , "el que no se arriesga no cruza la mar," we must take risks if we seek some gain. And Quakers have been saying for years that silence is golden , "el silencio es oro." Proverbs have few words, good sense, and a fine image. 

  The present Spanish Prime Minister, a certain Pedro Sánchez , recently, and at a political rally, used an old proverb to justify his irregular decisions: "hacer de necesidad, virtud." The English counterpart is: "Make a virtue of necessity", meaning "to acquiesce in doing something unpleasant with a show of grace because one must do it in any case." He was referring to his banding together with unscrupulous terrorists albeit he had sworn repeatedly he would never do it. I could offer him many other proverbs he and his followers could profit from: -- Once a thief, always a thief. -- A liar is sooner caught than a cripple. -- An ill life, an ill death. -- There are none so blind as those who will not see. -- You cannot have it both ways.

Rearranging my books -again- I have come across Dale Carnegie ´s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living , a book I purchased on 06/03/1986 (I kept the sales slip!). Flipping its pages, I come across this about proverbs: "If we only applied proverbs -instead of snorting at them- we wouldn´t need this book at all. In fact, if we applied most of the old proverbs, we would lead almost perfect lives." So here: -- Don´t sell the skin till you have caught the bear. -- Don´t cry over spilt milk. -- Don´t look a gift horse in the mouth. -- Curiosity killed the cat. -- Don´t wash your dirty linen in public. -- The proof of the pudding is in the eating. -- More haste, less speed. -- You´ve got to be cruel to be kind.

A few years ago, people feared strange-acting folk and would not associate with them or lock them up in dungeons. This feeling was widespread and was reflected in sayings in different languages, like: "Take heed of a mad fool in a narrow place," which has a Spanish counterpart:   " De locos y en lugar estrecho, espera daño y no provecho."  Another saying warns us to keep away from silent people and especially still waters: "Beware of a silent man (dog, and still waters." This has again, a Spanish parallel saying: "De las aguas mansas nos libre Dios." A variant says: "Beware of still water, beware of the silent man, beware of the dog that does not bark." It is also said that "a barking dog does not bite" or "perro que ladra no muerde."   

  Sometimes proverbs make sense and instill timeless folk philosophy in a nutshell. We should heed the following ones. 1. " Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies (cures). " 2. " Many dishes make many diseases. "  -- "... desperate diseases must have desperate cures." (Jordan Thomas, A Medicine for the Times , 1640. UK.) -- "... where the proverb saith that many dishes make many diseases." Thomas Moffet, Health Improvement ..., 1655. UK.) Both of the above proverbs have their parallel duplicates in Spanish. 1. " A grandes males, grandes remedies. " 2. " De grandes cenas están las sepulturas llenas. "  -- "Soles i penas y zenas tienen las sepulturas llenas." (Gonzalo Correas, Vocabulario de refranes , 1625. Esp.) -- "Para grandes males, grandes remedios." Miguel Ángel Asturias, El papa verde, 1954. Guat.) 

  Ya hemos tratado sobre Erasmo de Roterdam y su Adagia , donde aparece la frase latina " Festina lente " que se tradujo al inglés por " more haste, less speed ". Se cree que si hacemos las cosas deprisa y corriendo, las haremos mal. Lo cual no es siempre cierto, pero que ha dado el dicho castellano de " quien mucho corre, pronto para ." "Take your time in writing the project, remember that more haste, less speed" le diríamos a alguien. Los pedantes llaman paremias a los refranes, paremias que se niegan a desaparecer de las lenguas y existen en todas ella, me aventuro a pensar. 

En 1500, Desiderious Erasmus Roterodamus, o Erasmo de Roterdam (1466-1536), publicó su ADAGIA, que era una compilación de refranes y dichos latinos y griegos. Si ahora nos sorprendemos al ver que muchas paremias se comparten en Europa, en sus distintas lenguas, es porque ignoramos este libro fundamental. Si vemos que " una golondrina no hace verano " en castellano, comprobamos que en inglés es " a swallow does not make a summer ." Los franceses también habían leído el libro de Erasmo y sacaron " une hirondelle ne fais pas le printemps ."  Los catalanes y valencianos nos dirán que " una orenella (oroneta) no fa estiu ." Y si viajamos a Roma oiremos que " una rondine non fa primavera ." Y todo esto se lo debemos a Erasmo de Roterdam , entre otras cosas, que recopiló el dicho latino " una hirundo non facit ver ", el origen de todo.   Uno no es suficiente para probar algo y necesitamos más pruebas, dos, tres, cuatro...     

  "It takes all sorts to make a world." People have different personalities, tastes, inclinations, education... diversity is essential. The origin is from Thomas Shelton´s translation of Don Quixote (1520) "...no todos los caballeros pueden ser cortesanos, ni todos los cortesanos pueden ni deben ser caballeros andantes: de todo ha de haber en el mundo." (II, Cap., 6). The European heritage in proverbs is strong and their influence in English, of importance, and vice versa.  This is why both English and Spanish are so easy to learn (!)  

El inglés y el alemán tienen genes similares. El castellano y portugués son hermanos. El castellano y el ruso ni se conocen. El inglés y el urdu no son, por no ser, ni siquiera amigos. Pero el castellano y el inglés son primos; quizá primos hermanos. Por eso aprender inglés o castellano resulta tan fácil y tan familiar y tan divertido. Hoy voy a dar unos ejemplos de refranes, proverbs , los que comienzan con better, más vale : Better late than never Better a poor compromise than a strong case Better beg than steal Better the devil you know than the devil you don¨t know Better aught than naught Better to have than to wish Better be envied than pitied Más vale tarde que nunca Más vale una mala avenencia que buena sentencia Más vale pedir que hurtar Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer Más vale algo que nada Más vale tener que desear Más vale que nos tengan envidia que lástima

Good fences make good neighbors   Para conservar la amistad (vecindad), pared en medio.   [ Cada uno en su casa y Dios en la de todos, nos dice otro refrán castellano, advirtiéndonos sobre la mucha confianza entre vecinos. Y la Biblia también aporta: “Pon rara vez el pie en casa de tu vecino, no sea que se canse de ti y te aborrezca.” Preverbios, 23:17.]

Donde las dan, las toman What goes around, comes around Those who do wrong must accept the same treatment from others. Both proverbs are very popular.

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Más vale pájaro en mano que cien(to) volando.

No dejes para mañana lo que puedas hacer hoy. Do not put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

A caballo regalado no le mires el diente (dentado) Do not look a gift horse in the mouth

Business before pleasure Primero es la obligación que la devoción

Ande yo caliente y ríase la gente Comfort is better than pride

La sabiduría popular, folk wisdom, reflejada en los refranes, proverbs, que sigue vigente. Unos ejemplos: A blindman´s wife needs no paint – la mujer del ciego ¿para quién se afeita? [ Antiguamente la mujer sólo se arreglaba para el marido y no para sí misma, para sentirse mejor consigo misma. Así resulta que la mujer del ciego, según los dos refranes, puede ir de cualquier manera. Ambos refranes son muy antiguos y el inglés proviene del castellano. Afeitarse es arreglarse, maquillarse.] En el país de los ciegos el tuerto es rey – in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.   [ Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) put it in Latin: “In regione caecorum rex est luscus.” The meaning is plain: those who are a bit better, just a bit, can rule and lead others. This proverb is found in most European languages. An early citation is: “En la tierra de los ciegos el tuerto es rey.” Gregorio González, El guitón Onofre , 1604.] If the blind lead the blind both shal...