Lost something?

When Marash Girl was a kid, and she was unable to locate something, she would wail, "I've lost my favorite . . . " (You fill in the blank.) Whenever her father would hear her make that statement, he would comment, "If your head were not attached to your body, you'd lose that as well!"

Remembering A Favorite Quip Of Grandpa Peter's . . .

Grandpa Peter used to loved to cite a favorite quip from the 1930's: "Call me whenever you like . . . just don't call me late for dinner!" N.B. Sundays were the only days Grandpa Peter could say this, as he was ALWAYS late for dinner during the week, when he would be out late every evening cleaning and repairing refrigerators and oil burners, leaving little time for him to engage in his favorite activities. . . reading AND (in the spring, summer and autumn) fishing!

ANOTHER QUIP FROM THE 1930'S!

Another favorite quip of Grandpa Peter's: "Don't let the door hit you on the way out!"

"A Rose By Any Other Name . . . "

And blooming in October . . . so special! N.B. Photo by none other than MarashGirl©2021!!!!

A Rose Garden?

Marash Boy recalls the following.

One day when my friend and classmate Armen S. and I were walking down the street in Harvard Square, we were able to view a young woman from behind, and he came out with this Persian phrase:   "She may look like a rose garden from the back, but when you see her from the front, she looks more like a vegetable garden." 

If You See Something . . .

Today, the expression in popular use goes something like this: "If you see something, say something!"

But growing up, Marash Girl was stertoriously commanded, "If you see something (on the ground), don't leave it there!  Pick it up!"  Remembering, the command related to a "something" that was in the house or on the house grounds, a "something" that did not belong on the floor!  But to this day, Marash Girl is wont to leave any "something" on the ground that doesn't appear to belong there, even if it's not her ground!!!!

May God grant you . . .

Whenever Marash Girl's dad was non-plussed  upon hearing a senseless comment made by an erstwhile conversationalist, her dad would comment, "God give me money and you brains!"  

Search as she might, Marash Girl could find no reference online to this statement, nor has she ever heard the comment elsewhere.  Was her dad translating an Armenian proverb?

Sign of the Times

Above sign posted over the entryway to the bathrooms at Quebrada Baking Company/Coffee Shop in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts.

Elephants and Ants, Marash style

"If your enemy is an ant, regard him as an elephant . . ."

Peter (Marash Girl's dad) and all the great Middle East scholars at Harvard quote this one!

But according to Google, this is a Danish proverb. How would the Danes know about elephants?  How did the expression go from Denmark to Marash?  More likely it was the other way around!

Here's Mud In Your Eye!

"Here's mud in your eye!"  So they used to toast in "the day".  Interesting that the mud is only in ONE eye!  On the surface, a toast -- good wishes, but what is it's real meaning? Back to Jesus time?  A wish for healing? A wish for true sight?

Too Good To Be True!

A  friend and Marash Girl were chatting the other day, and the friend commented on someone they had both met recently at a party.

"My mother would have said,  Շատ լաւ, Լաւ չե! (Shud luv, luv ché!).  Or she might have chosen to say it in English: "Too good, no good!"

Or as Americans might put it, "Too good to be true!"

Don't wish your life away!

And related to the expression Marash Girl recorded yesterday is the advice she always gave her son when he would wish that Christmas (or his birthday, or summer, or snow)  would hurry up and get here!

"Don't wish your life away."

Marash Girl should have written the book on mindfulness long before it became chique!

Or she should have been aware of the Armenian expression she recorded yesterday:

Ուշ ըլլայ, անուշ ըլլայ:

That would have been a kinder way of putting it!

Don't fly off the handle when you're full of . . . .

Once there was a very hungry crow who found a pile of cow manure.  He was so pleased as filled himself with the  pieces of corn he picked from the pile.  But he was so hungry that he forgot to stop eating when he had had his fill and was unable to fly away.  Eyeing the shovel that was anchored in the pile, he climbed to the top of the shovel and flew off the handle, immediately dropping to the ground, dead.

The moral of the story?  Don't fly off the handle when you're full of sh...t!

A favorite tale for both Grandpa Peter as well as Arppie, the moral made sense back in the thirties and forties and even earlier in a more rural society; as far back as 1843, the expression "fly off the handle" was first seen in print.

That's life!

A good friend passed away 1.5 years ago and has left a bit of a hole in my life, but that’s life, as we used to say.  In fact, in junior high school, there was never any sympathy.  This is the way it would go if we complained.

--That's life!

--What’s life?

--A magazine.

--How much does it cost?

--25 cents.

--25 cents?!!!

--That’s life.

--What’s life.

--A magazine.

--How much does it cost . . . . . . . 

And that’s the way it went, around and around and around.  That's life. . . Remember?

Take heart!

"There is always dawn on the other side of the mountain."

Kurdish Proverb quoted in MEMED, MY HAWK by Yashar Kemal

Massachusetts Residents Suffer From Cabin Fever

Snow expected tonight, and again on Monday.  Being snowed in can wear on the nerves!  As cabin fever sets in, and folks become more and more frazzled, Marash Girl is reminded of one of her mother's favorite sayings:

Let's live in peace, not in pieces!

Too much partying!

Too much partying (Armenian Christmas, remember?) . . . no post for today.

"Don't go away mad, just go away," (as they used to say at Day Junior High School in the early 1950's), but do come back again tomorrow!  Lots to relate!

A word to the wise . . .

      Parking his car next to the track at the Newton YMCA, the owner of this car need say no more!

Overheard at the phlebotomist's . . .

It's been real, it's been nice, but it hasn't been real nice!

"I'd give my eye teeth to be able to do that!"

What does that mean? asked Marash Girl's daughter.  Why would you give your eye teeth?  Clear from the context as to the meaning of this expression, but very unclear after much research as to the origin of the expression.  Any takers out there?