Class 43. Idioms, proverbs and sayings — the lines Malayalis actually reach for. Up to now you have learned how to SAY things. Idioms are different. Idioms are how a culture says things it has already decided how to say. When a Malayali reaches for a proverb they are not being decorative — they are ending an argument, softening a refusal, or delivering a criticism that would be unbearable said plainly. And there is one more reason. Understanding an idiom is the fastest way to make a room laugh, and being laughed WITH in a language you are learning is worth a hundred vocabulary lists. THE CLASSICS — literal picture first, then what it actually does • ആന കൊടുത്താലും ആശ കൊടുക്കരുത് — even if you give an elephant, do not give hope. Never make a promise you cannot keep. Notice the scale of that image: an elephant is a fortune, and the proverb says it costs you less than a false hope does. • കാക്കയ്ക്കും തൻ കുഞ്ഞ് പൊൻകുഞ്ഞ് — even to a crow, its own chick is golden. Said gently, usually about somebody boasting about their children. • മുള്ളിനെ മുള്ളുകൊണ്ട് എടുക്കണം — a thorn must be removed with a thorn. • ചക്കിനു വച്ചത് കൊക്കിനു കൊണ്ടു — what was aimed at one hit another. • അടി കൊണ്ടവനേ അറിയൂ അടിയുടെ വേദന — only the one who was struck knows the pain of the blow. Said to somebody being casual about another's difficulty. • ഉള്ളത് പറഞ്ഞാൽ ഉറിയും ചിരിക്കും — speak the truth and even the pot rack laughs. A rather sad one, and a very Malayali one. • തുമ്പിയെക്കൊണ്ട് കല്ലെടുപ്പിക്കുക — to make a dragonfly lift a stone. The lightest creature in a Kerala garden, the heaviest object. • നായ കുരച്ചാൽ ദേവാലയം അശുദ്ധമാകില്ല — a dog's bark cannot defile a temple. Remember this one when somebody attacks your work. GRAMMAR HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT വിന വിതച്ചാൽ വിന കൊയ്യും — sow trouble, reap trouble. That വിതച്ചാൽ is your conditional -ആൽ from Class 23, sitting inside a proverb five hundred years older than you. Taught by Dr. Reshmi R Nair.