Here in Befandriana-Nord, Madagascar I live amongst the Tsimihety people and speak the Tsimihety language. Tsimihety is one of many dialects spoken in Madagascar and while some of its vocabulary resemble the Official Language of the country, the pronunciation, tone, and delivery of words differ such that to an outsider the dialect is all but incomprehensible. Tsimihety is rarely merely spoken. To emphasize ideas, one must sing—a low bass for things big in size and near in distance; a high falsetto for things small and far. To socialize with others, one must joke. The Tsimihety love to laugh. As you’ll see in the below proverbs, or ohabolana the Tsimihety are adept at recognizing the humor in any situation. While they love to laugh, however, the Tsimihety also love to have a laugh at the expense of others. Thus, to speak, one must boast. The Tsimihety are born proud perfectionists. They have egos made of glass—transparent and easy to break. Hence people yell at each other with a brazen arrogance that can be at once both disarming and alarming. Conversations tend to revolve around magnifying the imperfections of others while defiantly defending one’s own.

Pride here becomes the classic hamartia, especially with respect to education. In the classroom, students cower at the prospect of making mistakes in front of their peers. This is especially apparent in my English classes where students who make the effort to speak aloud in class are met with childish mimicry and heckling from their peers. Like a pack of hyenas, their peers jump and bite at even the slightest mistake—an intimidating prospect when the pack is eighty-five large. The result when students are unwilling to make mistakes is that little learning takes place in the classroom. And as anyone who has learned a foreign language before can tell you, mistakes are, ironically, the stepping stones to achieving fluency.

Anyway, the Tsimihety people’s reluctance to make mistakes has not prevented them from creating the most evocative of proverbs. Proverbs that immediately conjure up vivid images and convey axiomatic ideas, whether quotidian or exceptional. Characters in the proverbs range from common animals—such as chameleons and goats—to common sights in every day life—such as old ladies and old men. Old ladies, however, take the cake though. In the rare proverb book I managed to get my hands on, old ladies take up no less than four full pages of proverbs, which proverbs are mostly at the expense of the old ladies. What can we say? After a lifetime of crouching over charcoal cookstoves, sweeping floors, wading knee-deep in rice fields, and not to mention making babies by the baker’s dozen—some old women have simply had the life wrung out of them and the result is as awe-inspiring as it is laughter-inducing. So, without further ado, I offer, in this post, a taste of the richness that is Tsimihety proverbs.

- Like an old lady full of bread—nothing left to talk about.

- Like an old lady swimming—no time to laugh.

- Like when you see an old lady sleeping at the market—if she’s not your grandma, leave.

- An old lady treading water—getting just enough air to stay alive.

- Like the supple, perky breast of a daughter-in-law—something yet to be seen.

- Like when you’re circumcising a dog and it gets away—you leave it unfinished

- Like when someone catches a crocodile at night—we’ll see what happened tomorrow

- Like the trandraka (forest rat) whose coat changes with the color of the earth

- Those who eat first will be full

- Those who go to bed early, go to bed comfortable

- As the goose lays eggs—every other day

- As the lazy herd cattle—only the cattle on the road get the stick

- Like an old drunk man—heavy on one side

- The rice water is fragrant only once

- Those who are itchy scratch

- The boat goes to the pier—not the other way around

- Like a dog with a turtle—how to eat it?

- Don’t belittle the man who wears the sack as a shirt

- Grasshoppers don’t sleep twice in the doorway

- Like an old man riding a bull—asking for trouble

- Like poop on a butt—in it’s place

- Like a naked wife—no need to wait

- Like when the monkey hits on the eel—do what I tell you

- Like ironing a wrinkle-less shirt

- Goat’s milk—enough for one only

- Only those willing to dive deep get the sand from the bottom

-  You haven’t been sitting long enough to kill the ants!

And of course…

- As the grasshopper says farewell—if I don’t see you I’m gone!