A listener who spent years in Ethiopia and Eritrea learning the Tigrinya language shares two sayings he learned there, both having to do with poultry. One translates as, “In its own good time an egg will walk on its own legs.” The other literally translates as “chicken’s dream” and means “a silly daydream.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “A Chicken’s Dream”
We got an email from Skip Dahlgren, who spent several years learning the Tigrinya language of northern Ethiopia and highland Eritrea, and he was noting that there are several cool proverbs in that language.
A couple of them involve chickens, and one of them translates as a silly daydream, but literally it means a chicken’s dream.
So if I say, you know, Martha, I think I’m going to quit all this and go live on a mountaintop and give advice to people who scale the heights, you’re going to say, Grant, that’s just a silly chicken’s dream.
Yeah, that’s just a silly chicken’s dream.
And the other one that I really like translates as, in its own good time, an egg will walk on its own legs.
In its own time, an egg will walk on its own legs.
So just give stuff a chance and it will get there.
Yeah.
You know, breathe.
Count to 10.
Let stuff progress.
You don’t need to interfere.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that.
In its own good time, an egg will walk on its own legs.
Yeah.
Maybe that’s good advice for helicopter parents, right?
Yes.
The child will grow with or without you.
The child will learn with or without you.
Yep.
Better accept it now.
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