a malaysian abroad

I didn’t expect this “A Saying in Three Ways” series to be focusing on negatives, but for some reason I have this theme going… First I talked about the dilemma of having to choose between two bad options; the second post discussed the case of going from a bad situation to a worse one.  Today’s installment will look at how English, Malay and French sayings describe the situation where someone in an unfortunate position has even more bad luck piled on him, thus going well beyond the situations covered previously.

Storm Frenzy Originally uploaded by  Mike McCaffrey

In English, we’d say when it rains, it pours. In the literal sense, it’s no fun to be caught not just in the rain, but in heavy rain; it’s one thing to get drizzled upon, it’s another to be battling strong winds that drive the drops of rain at high speeds into your face, stinging you, even as you get soaked through!

Similarly, the French would say un malheur n’arrive jamais seul, which translates to misfortune never arrives alone. This helps explain the English version too, in a less literal manner. The idea behind this is simple. If misfortune befalls you, you can safely expect it to continue doing so. For example, continuing with the rain theme, not only did you forget your umbrella at home, but it begins to rain - heavily. By the time you reach some sort of shelter, you are soaked through. Then, a bus speeds by and splashes you with water. When the correct bus finally arrives, you try to board, only to find your wallet is missing - did you forget it at home, or are you the victim of a pickpocket? All this and it’s just 7am!

I personally like the visuals provided by the Malay version best: jatuh ditimpa tangga, which translates to having fallen down, only to have the ladder fall on you.

Waiting for Daddy! Originally uploaded by wizan

First, a clarification: traditionally, Malay houses are on stilts, and therefore one would need to walk up the stairs to get into the house.  Yes, these stairs (tangga) can be treacherous.  The same word also refers to a ladder, however, and this is much more likely to fall than the stairs of a house.

Don’t be this guy by greefus groinks

Okay, now imagine yourself on a ladder, and for some reason you fall off the ladder. Bad enough you might face a twisted ankle or broken bones as a result of the fall; then, adding insult to injury, the dratted ladder falls on you, resulting in more potential bruises and hurts, and perhaps even drawing laughter from onlookers.  Ouch!

If anyone wants to share similar bad-to-worse-plus-more-misfortune sayings in other languages, please feel free to do so in the comments, k?  I’d love to hear from you 

Here I’d like to go off on a tangent and point out that for both English and French, there is a related concept of things occurring in multiples of three: the English say good/bad things come in threes, while the French say jamais deux sans trois, which means never two without a third. Interestingly, these two can be used for either positive or negative situations, while all the other sayings discussed above are definitely describing only misfortune.  (To my Malay-knowledgeable readers - is there a similar saying in Malay?  I can’t think of any right now!)

Hope you enjoyed this iteration of “A Saying in Three Ways”… if you have some English, Malay or French idioms, proverbs or phrases you’d like me to explore, please feel free to drop me a line in the comments: I’d love to get some positive prompts, LoL!

Cheers,
*lynne*

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