My Favorite Proverb

If you don't see the "special" Polish letters, take a look HERE.
 
"Nie dla wszystkich skrzypce grają."

"The violin doesn't play for everybody."

 
    There is no common English equivalent for this proverb, but it has a special meaning for ME! I have always been pretty much of a "Jack of all trades", but, especially nowadays, I find that there are some things I just CANNOT do! This proverb is SO fitting to me because I also know how to play the fiddle; or should I say, I know how DIFFICULT it is to get MUSIC to come out of the "#%@*$#!" thing!
    "Skrzypce", the Polish word for "violin", is a plural noun derived from the word "skrzyp" which literally means a "creak" or a "groan"! What an APT description of the "instrument of torture" that it can be, in the WRONG hands!!
 
    Another proverb along the same line is:

"Jednemu szydła golą, drugiemu i brzytwy nie chcą."
"For one awls shave, for another razors won't."

    This is the reason why Itzhak Perlman can make pretty music with the CHEAPEST fiddle, and even a Stradivarius violin is of NO help to ME!!



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9/21/03