Thursday, July 5, 2012

Don't give me a fish and don't teach me how to fish. Just give me a break

And here we go with our second proverb : "Don't give me a fish and don't teach me how to fish. Just give me a break" probably an invention of one of my friends .

Like the proverb of yesterday this one has undergone a complete transformation too. The original proverb is well known under different versions and different wordings like "Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity" said to be of Karl Marx or this one "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" said to be a Chinese proverb. Anyway, the overall meaning is that teaching someone how to earn a living is better for him than just satisfying one of his punctual needs, as by teaching him how to fish or how to grow potatoes you give him a financial independence from you. However, by doing him this lifetime favor he will owe you for the rest of his life, probably will not be able to return the favor back and thus will live in a sort of slavery toward you. Thats why our proverb says in other words: I owe you no fish, I owe you nothing, I am free, so get lost.

See you tomorrow for the next one.

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