“Año bisiesto, año siniestro” (Leap year, sinister year) is how the leap year is characterised in Spanish. They couldn’t have said it any better! 2020 is surely proving to be a sinister year. Due to the lockdown, the world almost came to a standstill with very little to look forward in this leap year,”… no home, nor vineyard, nor orchard, nor port” (“Año bisiesto, ni casa, ni viña, ni huerto, ni puerto”).
As the world continues to face multiple problems like natural calamities, war, poverty and the terrifying pandemic, people across cultures use different proverbs and idioms while speaking about these difficult times. As we learn a language, these linguistic gems help us understand the cultural nuances of our target language in an enjoyable way. They also help us develop our vocabulary and with respect to this specific article, I hope they help us to see the lighter side of things. So let’s have a look at a few of them!
While any difficulty “throws a spanner in the works” or in French “mettre des bâtons dans les roués” (put some sticks in the wheels), a series of misfortunes is equated with a deluge of rain, like when we say “It never rains but it pours”. In Spanish the same sentiment is expressed with “Llueve sobre mojado”. Literally translated, “it rains over (that which is already) soaked”. However, in one of our native Indian languages, Marathi, the same sentiment is expressed as “दुष्काळात तेरावा महिना” (Thirteenth month during a famine). These metaphors highlight the influence of a country’s history. India has always depended on the rains for its agriculture while famines have always brought misery and hardship. It isn’t surprising then that we equate famine with misfortune.
Spanish has another little-used but nevertheless hilarious and ironic idiom to express the ill-timed arrival of an unexpected difficulty, “Éramos pocos, y parió mi abuela” (“We were few and my grandmother gave birth”). Contrary to what is being said, there were many mouths to feed and then the most unexpected difficulty occurred, the grandmother gave birth, an additional mouth to feed!
At times, one struggles to take a difficult decision and is caught “between a rock and a hard place” or “between the sword and the wall” (“entre la espada y la pared” in Spanish), or “between the hammer and the anvil” (“entre le marteau et l'enclume” in French). While at other times the solution is too little, too late, like “closing the stable doors after the horse has bolted” or “building a door after the ox is gone” (बैल गेला नि झोपा केला in Marathi) or “going to a burnt house with water. (“La casa quemada, acudir con el agua” in Spanish)
Some proverbs reflect the bitter reality that the weakest and disadvantaged people suffer the most during difficult times. “The thinner the dog is, the fatter the fleas” (“Je magerer der Hund, desto fetter größer die Flöhe” in German), or “to a lean dog, everything is (like) fleas” (a perro flaco, todo son pulgas” in Spanish. At the peak of a difficult time, one might feel like we go from a bad situation to a worse one or “out of the frying pan into the fire” (“ir de Guatemala a Guatepeor” a Spanish pun where mala means bad and peor means worse).
But the ancient proverbs remind us, “Misfortunes come galloping and go away taking steps” (“Unglück kommt geritten und weicht mit Schritten”). Until they do go away, all one can do is be patient and go through difficulties with grace, a sentiment echoed in almost languages from Marathi “आलिया भोगासी असावे सादर” to Spanish “A mal tiempo, buena cara”, to German“Man muss gute Miene zum bösen Spiel machen”, to French “Il faut faire contre mauvaise fortune bon cœur”.
What do you think? Do you know of any other related proverbs or idioms in Indian or foreign languages? Share them with us in the comment section below. Until then, ¡hasta luego!
-Sarika Salvi
Faculty and Section head, Spanish