CHANFLES!

A comment by Cindylu on a previous post, where she wonders if she is using a dicho correctly, made me think it’s about time we came up with some new ones that make sense straight out of the gate. I’ve heard the sin pelos en la lengua one before, but I really have no idea where it comes from, and even less how to explain it to others. Dichos are common around the world and in many cultures, used to inform, warn, or even as a shorthand to express a concept. They just take a different name and form.

I prefer the simple ones that are easy to understand, like camaron que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente (trans: shrimp that falls asleep, will be taken by the current) which basically means to pay attention to the things around you lest you be washed away. My mother used to tell me this practical one to discourage speeding up when the train track lights start blinking: mejor un minuto en la vida, que la vida en un minuto. (trans: better a minute in your life, than your life in a minute.) Practical enough, I hereby loan it to the MTA so they can use it in safety ads. And my grandma liked to use this one: Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres. (trans: tell me who you hang with and I will tell you who you are.) Basically a diss that she didn’t like my punk friends with their weird haircuts, but I’d already become immune to those barbs. As that last one illustrates, these little saying can also be used to subtly enforce a conservative, backwards take on the world, as a way to make sure people stay in line. That’s not something I want to encourage.

Since so many dichos are slightly conservative or just plain confusing I propose this: lets come up with some new ones, some short interesting sentences that playfully encapsulate a modern concept and are simple enough to be sprinkled into a casual conversation. English or Spanish, either will work. Easy, que no? Sure it is, and it’s fun too, watcha:

Sartén caliente quema manos. (Hot pan burns hands.)

A chicken runs, a headless chicken runs in circles. (Un pollo corre, pollo degollado corre en circulos.)

Mejor una paseada por la Primera y Breed, que una redada en Soto y Brooklyn. (Watch out for the chota.)

Jobs are boring, stealing office supplies will spice up your day. (Estos cabrones me tienen confianza.)

You get the idea, now go crazy and post yours in the comments. And to sweeten the deal on this super exciting challenge, the best or worst new dicho will win a prize of a sheet of paper! Err, not a regular paper, but a papel picado like the one pictured above, suitable for decorating your house or for covering up that bullet hole on your security door. Yeah, we noticed. What do you say gang, are you with me? To the keyboards!