22259: Allouard: Re: 22256: Lawless proverb + Racine Posts (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Allouard <allouard@libertysurf.fr>

"Tout fanm fet ak yon ti kawo te nan fant janb li"

Other saying goes with this one:
"Chak fanm fet ak tout byen l"
[every woman is born with all her heritage / all her own wealth]

I had this yesterday evening by asking a 19 years old boy... According to
him, people use to say this meaning that:

- "while a man has to work hard, a woman has only to find a man to pay her
expenses"

This confirms the posts in the line of the Manbo Rasin ones; I would like to
say I found her posts very accurate as far as I know Haitian men and women.
It is very difficult to have men here understanding a woman can say no. I
don't even speak about the right to say no... No, just the fact that she
would, really, say no.
Result: if a woman says "no!", this means she is shy, and cannot acknowledge
her desire, or that she is teasing the guy!!!
Difficult to have the young guys I am in charge of not whistling at every
woman passing by the fence, or not making very crude /rude comments,
loudly...

When I told them that, behaving this way in France they would very probably
end with a slap on their face they just stared at me: this is
unbelievable...

I have also to say that, if men are very macho and quick and rough in their
approach, women are not really behind them... When they are teasing someone
it is very rough and quick and it can happen in public transportation a
woman just check by hand some man's trousers in order she ascertains if
package is correct... (But it is true that 99% it is the man who "checks",
whether the woman wants it or not.)
Also many women do not easily lose their calm and self control when a man is
rough with them... And they speak about it:  I had some day in a tap-tap 4
women telling their public transportation experiences and how they rebuked
too "pro-active" men... it was very funny and I doubt not the men were made
the fools of the story as those women were pretty good at making someone
ashamed in front of others...

Medanm yo, kenbe fem!

Best regards,
                                Philippe


----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Corbett
To: Haiti mailing list
Subject: 22256: Lawless: proverb

I found a more precise English translation -- perhaps someone can give us
the Creole: "Every woman is born with a carreau of land--between her
legs."