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A Colombian saying



 
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A Colombian saying #1 (permalink) Sun Oct 29, 2006 20:52 pm   A Colombian saying
 

Hey! everyone listen up...

Sometimes when we are met with friends our moms prepare some drinks and then they go by around the living room passing out the drinks. Anyhow, when our moms are near of our friends this situation could become in a really embarrassing one for you. If you think that your friends don't know you well enough please have the certainty that now they will do it.

While your mom is serving drinks, they also can talk and (what is even more unbelievable for me) remember such embarrassing things that I can't--I don't how they do it. For instance, that unforgettable memory when you just got out of the bathroom with your pants and underwear dragging them behind you. Enthusiastically, your mother says it to your friends including such details that are impossible to remember even to my father who saw me growing up..."My little boy in those days have some diarrhea and that's why he was going so much to the bathroom", says your mom complementing this climate with a huge smile on her face and her eyes blurred with tears. I don't know why they went like that, maybe I am not that sentimental as moms are.

Obviously, this situation to your mom was really cute and she keeps saying, "It was when he was 6 years old and my whole family remembers that day every time we met. Oh! my baby looked so cute! Didn't you?" she looks at you as if you were still her little kid. When these kind of things happened all your friends are laughing and hearing out as I've never seen them, ever!!! Here is when you think inside yourself, "Oh boy! Please,please. I hope she is not going to mention about my pics where I appear totally naked" and here it comes..."I have an idea guys, what do you think if I show you some pics of my boy when he was a kid?" mom asks. I know for sure that if I were one of the guests I would love to see some of those embarrassing pictures.

Nevertheless, there is a moment in which you have to stop all this awful situation because your reputation is getting worse every second your mom is around you and your friends. So, here is what many of young people, like me, do in my country. We say, "Mami, la ropa vieja se lava en casa!"That's a saying here in Colombia when situations like these one shows up. Sometimes, I know, these kind of things could sound funny but honestly they get me down for a while. I rather prefer to tell those stories by myself and when is convenient. Therefore, this saying (la ropa vieja se lava en casa!) means that things which are very intimate or close to you should not be said to all. On the contrary, like dirty clothing, you should keep intimate issues just at home not out of it.

What about you guys? What kind of saying in your countries on these similar situations you've got?

Tell us about it!!
_________________
Sergio M.
"Life is too short to grieve in sorrow"
Serzige
I'm here quite often ;-)


Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 119

A Colombian saying #2 (permalink) Sun Oct 29, 2006 21:16 pm   A Colombian saying
 

Hi Sergio

Embarrassing their children in this way seems to be a favorite "hobby" of mothers everywhere. Laughing

There is an expression in English that I think is quite similar to the one you mentioned:
to air one's dirty laundry/linen

Amy
Yankee
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
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Saying #3 (permalink) Sun Oct 29, 2006 21:27 pm   Saying
 

Nice story, Sergio!

You should wash your dirty linen at home is probably a universal saying.

In Spain, it goes 'los trapos sucios se lavan en casa'.
Conchita
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A Colombian saying #4 (permalink) Tue Oct 31, 2006 16:37 pm   A Colombian saying
 

Yankee wrote:
Embarrassing their children in this way seems to be a favorite "hobby" of mothers everywhere. Laughing
Amy


Yeah, Amy. I think parents do that only because they want to show their loves ! In fact they don't mean to embarrass kids at all. But the young will feel a little uncomfortable . That's true! Much embarrassment and many compliments. Laughing
Serzige, I know in Chinese if we don't want to let others know our family affairs, which may include all kinds of embarrassing things or bad things, we will say "Domestic shame should not be published" or "Wash your dirty linen at home" , the former meets its Chinese meanings, the latter is one similar in English, now, give the Chinese sentence saying, "家丑不可外扬“ Laughing

F.F
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Joined: 18 May 2006
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