Fóireann spallaí do bhallaí chomh maith le clocha móra.
Walls require spalls as well as large stones.
Note: Our thanks go to Brendan McSherry for this week’s proverb. In is simplest sense it is a lesson in masonry. A spall or gallet is a small flake or chip of stone produced by splitting a larger stone. Practiced masons can create any size and shape chip they want. A deft blow of the hammer will create a chip to fit any whole in a wall. In fact, the word spall comes from the Old German word spell which means to split. Therefore, walls, especially walls made without mortar, need many of these chips if they are to stand for any length of time.
On a deeper level, it is a metaphor about society and about life. There is the American expression “all chiefs and no Indians” used to deride a group with all leaders and no followers. Such a situation is comically doomed to failure. You obviously need more of the latter than the former to be successful.
Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains victory. George S. Patton, In the Cavalry Journal, 1933.
Another interpretation of this metaphor concerns a healthy balance in life. It is easy to focus all of our attention on the big things in life and forget the little things. For example, many spend all their energy on advancing their careers. They lose sight of the little things in life, like watching your daughter’s first goal in a soccer match, taking your son to the museum, or simply enjoying a quiet sunset. Their lives, like walls without spalls, will soon collapse under their own weight.
It is often that a person’s tongue cut his throat.
Note: This might be more colorfully be said as: “It is often that a man’s tongue slit his own throat”. Note also that although the seanfhocal speaks of a “person” (duine), it goes on to refer to “his throat”. Much as in English (in the days before political correctness), when it is necessary to ascribe gender to a person or people, the masculine gender is used. This can be viewed as either giving the subject “the benefit of the doubt”, or as a subtle statement that males come closest to the non-descript (neuter) gender.
Note: This is a play on the multiple meanings of words. In this case the mouth does not physically break the nose in question. Rather, the mouth sets a chain of events in motion by speaking offensive words (by being “mouthy”) which results in injury to its neighbor, the nose.
Do not break your shin on a stool that is not in your way.
Note: Don’t go out of your way to get in trouble. Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you. Do not meet troubles half way.
Are you come to meet your trouble? The fashion of the world is to avoid cost, and you encounter it. William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing.
Troubles are like the rough in golf; the trick is not staying out, but getting out after we are in.
Note also: This proverb has two negative verbal particles, ná and nach. Ná is used to give negative commands and does not require the following verb to be lenited or eclipsed. It will put an h before a following verb that begins with a vowel. Ná hól bainne géar. (Don’t drink sour milk.) Nach can be used either as an interogatory verbal particle or as a relative verbal particle. In either case, it requires the following verb to be eclipsed.
Ná nocht d’fhiacla go bhféadair an greim do bhreith.
Don’t bare your teeth until you can bite.
Note: There is another variation to this week’s proverb. “Ná taispeáin d’fhiacail san áit nach dtig leat greim a bhaint amach.” (Don’t show your teeth where cannot give a bite. Literally: Don’t show your teeth in a place you may not be able to take a bite out.) In Scots Gaelic, there is a slight variation. “Mur comas dut teumadh, na rùisg do dheudach.” (If you cannot bite, don’t show your teeth.) Sun Tzu knew this in 500 B.C. “He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.” — Sun Tzu, The Art of War, III, 25.
Note also: In the two Irish versions of this week’s proverb, there are two different plural forms of the word ‘fiacail,’ namely ‘fiacla’ and ‘fiacail.’ The first is the official standard plural, ‘fiacla.’ You will see this standard in the Chois Fharraige dialect in county Galway. In parts of Donegal, you will see the non-standard plural, ‘fiacail.’ In these non-standard cases, the nominative sinular form is ‘fiacal,’ not ‘fiacail.’ This is not to say that Galway speakers always use the official standard. Such is not the case. In fact, nobody speaks the official standard. The official standard is a standard for spelling and grammar, not pronunciation. A standard pronounciation was proposed later called ‘an Lárchanúint’ (the core dialect), ach sin scéal eile.
