Traditional Jamaican proverb · taught in Clarendon
Wen kichin-dresa faal dong, maaga daag laaf.
When the kitchen shelf falls down, the thin dog laughs.
One person's disaster is another's chance — the overlooked profit when the well-off come down.
two-clause indicative with time clause
Two pictures and no explaining word between them; the dresser falls in the first half, the laugh lands in the second, and laugh carries no tense marker at all.
This one is taught in Clarendon.
Cassidy gives kitchen-dresser, a cupboard or shelf, as probably best known in this proverb — 'When kitchen-dresser fall down, mauga dog laugh.'
The grammatical categories this description uses — clause type, mood, and the sound patterning noted where it carries the proverb — follow Unseth's framework for describing a proverb rather than only translating it.
The proverb is folk material. The description of how it is put together follows the framework in the work above; the translation and the commentary are mine.
Hear it, and collect the rest →