Proverb Monday

Proverb: ɔman rebεbɔ a, ɔmampam na ɔkuta poma.
Transliteration: When the nation is about to come to ruin, it is the monitor lizard which holds the staff.
Implication: There's a play on words here: "ɔman-pam" would mean "put together the nation". "ɔmam-pam" is the monitor lizard. Hence: only unity can save the nation.
My Understanding: The monitor lizard is known to be deaf hence, if it holds the staff (or becomes the linguists, as linguists hold the staff of the Chief/King and they repeat to the King whatever someone has said) then the Chief would hear nothing better and this would lead to the collapse of the nation. Perhaps it could also be that poor advisors leads to collapse of a nation.

Note: 'ɔ' as in 'fork' with a silent 'r' or as in 'mop'; 'ε' as in 'death', or as in 'bet', and 'e' as in 'it'.

Comments

  1. Geosi6 December 2010 at 13:51

    If I hadn't read your understanding of this proverb, the oman and omampam would have totally confused me. I'm learning more from here...lol!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Geosi6 December 2010 at 13:53

    And I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on Myne Whitman's book.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ImageNations6 December 2010 at 14:05

    @Geosi... lol. There is confusion somewhere within. Oman (with an 'n') is 'nation' so 'Oman-pam' is building a nation though 'pam' actually means 'sew'. lol.

    I have just posted it...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Geosi6 December 2010 at 14:18

    I see the post and reading it. hey! thanks for those explanations...very insightful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amy6 December 2010 at 14:30

    Another great and wise proverb!

    ReplyDelete
  6. ImageNations6 December 2010 at 14:46

    @Amy... thanks..lol

    ReplyDelete

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