I hope nobody is calling you a “pendejo” after last week’s article on that topic. Remember the saying: “ Amores de lejos, amores de pendejos”.
EL QUE ANDA EN LA MIEL ALGO SE LE PEGA: (He who walks into honey becomes quite sticky) This was used in two distinct ways. First in a negative way if one associated with bad company, he was bound to acquire some of the bad habits or ways. Similarly if someone associated with people of nice character and personality, some of these qualities would soon become inherent qualities of his as well. If a woman acted very mean, people would say that she learned it from her mean husband or some close company. And if a man would start being flirty with girls or promiscuous, his wife would slam him with this phrase meaning that he was learning it from hanging out with friends just like him or spending too much time at disreputable bars (not found on the island, of course)
NO HAY MAL QUE POR BIEN NO VENGA: This literally says that evil or bad luck comes for a good reason, but in actuality it is close to “Every cloud has a silver lining. Sanpedranos have always been optimistic people so much that no negative or unwelcome occurrence killed anyone’s spirit. They knew ;that at the end, something good was still awaiting. Or to put it mildly, if something bad was happening to me, God knew why he wanted it that way. For example, if there was terrible weather during an important event in one’s life, God knew why he wanted it like that. If there was an earthquake on your wedding day, God knew why he did not want you to marry that person. Therefore something bad was actually good in disguise. I’ll drink to that. So now I can explain why God did not want a certain politician to win.
EL QUE NO ESCUCHA CONSEJO NO LLEGA A VIEJO: (He who does not listen to advice does not live to see old age) Of course this proverb was used a million times to warn or remind young people that they ought to pay heed to the advice, the experience, sincerity, wisdom and genuine goodness of older folks, especially of parents. When a father told his son over and over to break a relationship with that flirty and no good girl, and he would not listen, then dad would remind him that he would be sorry for not listening to his good advice. Got time for one more?
TRATAR DE TAPAR EL SOL CON UN DEDO: (Trying to cover the sun with one finger) Now would you try to do that? That seems like a complicated job to do so simply. So if you had a complicated problem and you tried to come up with a little patch up work solution, you would apply this saying. It is like putting a small band aid over a large wound.
