Arabs say "To understand a people, acquaint yourself with their proverbs." So I did. My favorite, for its cultural specificity, is the Arab version of overstaying your welcome, "He ate the camel and all it carried." Cute!
I am trying to assimilate, so I made up my own proverb. It means, basically, if you can't distinguish what you want from all that is around you, you'll never find it. But it literally translates as, "These poor expats will never find their puppy because it looks just like all the mangy strays in Maadi that people think it a community service to run over with their cars."
In China, when something is inevitable, they say, "The weather's going to rain and your mother's going to marry someone else."
ReplyDeleteAn entire nation of Oedipuses (Oedipi?), I swear.