Proverbs
May 2nd, 2006 by MarkI’ve known for quite a while that there are some Japanese proverbs which have very different meanings from the Chinese proverbs composed of the exact same characters. I think I’ve come across a similar situation with an English saying. Here it is:
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
What does that mean? Is “moss” good or not? And which side of the Atlantic are you from?
:
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:28 am
I think this proverb means “keep working and you won’t have time to get into trouble.” I’m a native English speaker from Colorado, though, and I never use this proverb because it doesn’t mean much to me personally. I like “a watched pot never boils” because if you take it literally, you can chase all the kids out of the kitchen while something is cooking, and if you feel like extending the metaphor, you can apply it to a lot of different things in life. For example, if I sit around waiting for love, it will never come–that sort of thing.
As for moss, I’m neutral about the concept of moss–it seems neither positive nor negative. I probably have that reaction because I can’t personally relate to this bizarre saying.
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:44 am
If you stay active, then even as you age you’ll keep feeling like you’re young.
Moss is bad. Moss is what happens when stones stop rolling (and people stop living life with balls). At least that’s how I’ve always heard it (I’m from the left side of the Atlantic :).
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:56 am
Moss is definitely bad, just think about all that green slimey goo currently growing on the north sides of all those concrete buildings in Taiwan. According to Bob Dylan it means “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” I’m a USian, btw.
(Anyway, over at Suitcasing you asked if I was studying during the 2 year buxiban teaching stint. Yep, I was on the 10 hr a week program at Zheng Da working 20-30 hrs a week. Then, in 3rd year I was in the Philosophy program at Zheng Da. During this time I just tutored and did freelance editing for profs and fellow grad students at the school since I wanted to do research and not flunk out…All of which isn’t terribly hard to do if you can avoid bars and “playing the ladies” as they say here.)
May 2nd, 2006 at 1:03 pm
If you keep hopping from one pursuit to another, you won’t achieve much in any of them.
Moss is good. It represents wealth. I’m from the other side of the pond, Lancashire to be specific.
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 am
The proverb means that someone who is constantly traveling will not put down roots.
Whether or not this ‘moss’ is a good thing would depend upon your perspective–some people prefer to be single and not have responsibilities in life and some yearn for a family.
I’m from Minnesota.