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October 26, 2009

Quote of The Day


Akpa le tome gake menya tsi fe vevie nyenyeo. (Ewe)
A fish is in water but does not know the importance of water. (English literal translation)
A fish is the last to acknowledge the existence of water. (English figurative translation)

The Ewe language is spoken in Southeast Ghana, Benin, parts of Southwest Nigeria and Southern Togo. The meaning of this proverb is that a fish is always in the water, but until it comes out of the water it doesn’t even recognize that the water exists. This proverb is about “taking things for granted” and similar to the saying thatfamiliarity brings discontent. This proverb is used to refer to a person who is very close to a powerful person but has lost sense of his or her greatness and starts treating him or her as if they were ordinary people, for example, the children of very rich or politically powerful people.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

great! :)

Fly Girl said...

So true. I have a friend that speaks Ewe, I'm going to try to speak this proverb to him, thanks for the inspiration.

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