Proverbs vs Plagiarism

Proverbs are collective treasures. They don’t belong to anybody. They are used free of charge to make things clear, and even clearer. Let’s pause and look at this Zulu proverb. Inxeba lendoda alihlekwa. (you must not laugh at a man’s wound). Why not? The speaker is saying, it can happen you.  Misfortune is universal.

Plagiarism on the other hand, is written knowledge attributed to one person, usually a man. It can be a sentence, a stanza in a poem, how bees produce honey or how  to find water in a desert. Students use it in their essays but they must attribute it to the author, otherwise it’s plagiarism. I quoted all the European professors in college to get a piece of paper known as the certificate. I’m free now, no more Malinowski, Einstein, Freud, Oscar Wilde, Beethoven, Karl Marx,  von Goethe or Shakespeare. The real education begins, with proverbs.

1. You cannot tell which lizard is pregnant when you see them on the wall.

2. The burning wood comes back to torch the person who started the fire.

3. Catch the sun and prevent it from setting.

Please do a brain workout and guess the meaning of these Zulu proverbs. It’s such a pity that I don’t speak world languages, because they are the source of proverbs. Tea for example. The proverb, it’s not my cup of tea is British because they drink all that tea. They even call the evening meal ‘tea.’ But, African Americans in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and other former U.S. slavery states speak English, and they have proverbs that mirror that time and place and the dehumanization.

West Africa is full of palm trees so most countries have proverbs about the iroko (palm tree). There must be proverbs about rice in most countries in Asia. They are not just 'knowledge' because they are not in a book. Ironic isn't it?

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.