I’m
not much into proverbs; for each there is an equal and opposite, like Out of sight, out of mind and Absence makes the heart grow fonder. No
doubt when the Chinese coined their walls and windmills proverb they knew
nothing of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Chinese opportunity is Spanish
futility.
I
wonder about the difference between a proverb, a saying, an adage, an aphorism,
and a truism. The proverb is well-known, expresses an obvious truth or piece of
advice. A saying seems to be interchangeable with a proverb. An aphorism is
succinct, but most sayings are too. The truism apparently is so often said as
to be meaningless.
Sometimes
my good woman says, “In Serbia we have a say.” I don’t correct her as she wants
me to, tell her we call it a saying not a say. I’m compromised: she wants to
speak English like a native; I prefer her endearing misconstructions.
First
I teach her the difference between literal
and literate after she tells me she
wants to be literal. I teach her split
second to replace her split of a
second. We both know what she intends. She still says without of when without
will do.
But
this is diversion from the real issue: can I find opportunity rather than
futility in our situation? I know that both in work and love I have an eye for
small shortcomings, allow them to grow and fester, to burst like boils, then
apply the balm of walking away.
My
good woman and I cannot get our act together these last six weeks. The first
time she walked, the second time, last Sunday, I did. Our intuitive
understanding of each other, despite our different cultures and native tongues,
has disappeared. How to find it again: how to begin, where to look?
Rock
on.
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