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July 25, 2005

Fulfulde Sweet-talk

A certain missionary who worked amongst Djibo Fulani in the 90's collected over 200 Fulfulde proverbs in a notebook. He sent me a photocopy of his collection and I have been working through them recently. Proverbs are much prized here as a means of communicating and as a way of making your talk sweet to the ear. Here are a few of my favourites.

Proverb: Heba cofel heba ngoofoondi walaa
Translation: You can't have both a chick and a yolk
Meaning: You can't have your cake and eat it too

Bernde feewa teppeere feewa kaa, walaa
You can't have both a cool heart and a cool heel
If you send someone to do something they'll get it wrong and you'll be upset, but if you go yourself you'll get tired

Mi wadii wootere doobal
I have done the 'one' of the doobal-bird (a bird which lays only one egg)
Said after doing something which you will never do again

Duroowo paabi, kam anndi layooru
The shepherd of frogs recognises the limping one (whereas anyone else would think they are all limping!)
The one who has experience has the accompanying knowledge (i.e. ask the expert)

Alla anndinaay gujjo de bangi munaafiki
God didn't tell the thief he was marrying a gossip
If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have done it. I didn't know that what I was doing was unwise!

Mbuuku bumdo nde wootere yaabetee
A blind man's testicles are only stood on once (i.e. he'll move or cry out to stop it happening again!)
Once bitten twice shy - said regarding unpaid loans, bad experiences etc

Si neddo fiyii howru banndum fuu, nyoofa howru mum
He who hits his neighbour's knee curls up his own legs
If you do something bad to someone, they are likely to avenge it, so watch out!

Si mawdo wi'ii modan jammbere ni nannganaa dum leggal
If a man says he will swallow an axe, hold the handle for him
Don't try and talk someone out of something if they've already made up their mind to do it

Posted by sahelsteve at July 25, 2005 09:32 PM