Elephant Test

Weekend Forecast Mild alcoholism with a 70% chance of poor decisions and poor judgment. An increasing chance of regret and a hangover for Sunday. ― ANONYMOUS

In Meitei Paorou Amasoong Chatnabi Londa (Meitei Proverbs and Common Sayings) by Chongtham Kuber I was looking for some design ideas. I got Manipuri Proverbs (Paorou) in English Pictures! Then I found that one animal has been mentioned more frequently than the others: the elephant; in seven sayings to be precise. The result is this graphic shown below! 

 

Incidentally, there are seven English expressions as well, which mention our favourite animal of the day. 

 

This includes: ① elephant in the room (an obvious issue that is often ignored or taken for granted), ② white elephant (expensive, wasteful project), ③ pink elephant (referring to hallucination), ④ elephant test (the idea of an elephant which is difficult to describe), ⑤ elephant in Cairo (rf. to computer programmers that describes how to hunt elephants in Africa), plus the two phrases of ⑥ elephant memory (rf. to intelligence and memory) and ⑦ jumbo (an adjective rf. to huge shape and size).

Transliteration of the above proverbs 

① Samu mathunda pena khongba (Playing pena in the elephant’s ass!); 

② Samu mapot iroida thonba (Loading the buffalo with the elephant’s stuff); 

③ Samugi kokthengfam Chothe-gi napteifam (Elephant’s head-touch, Chothe’s hanky); 

④ Samuna nai khangde, ningthouna naithide (An elephant knows no pain; a king, no defeat); 

⑤ Samuna taalaga yarakta hotchillu (Rush inside the teeth if the elephant chases you); 

⑥ Samu maya thindorakpa mang-ge theng-guna yeisinba yade (-passed!-); and 

⑦ Samuna mayang kanglaga iroimuk chaowee (The elephant is just a buffalo when it is lean).

More Manipuri proverbs that are referred to other animals  

① Sun wainaba chikhong tatli (getting hurt while negotiating on others’ behalf); 

② Sun asiba manakta leppa (getting blamed for an accident just because one was present near the site of mishap); 

③ Saji nangi naroubu lamhui eina khangdabra (a plotter knows other’s conspiracy); 

④ Sagol mamang punjao pubi, nungsit maram lasing kaappi (making efforts even if failure is imminent); etc.

 

Check: 

• 80 Manipuri Proverbs (Paorou) Based on Animals, Birds and Insects
• All the proverbs (paorou, pramanpanthei) on this blog

News of the Week
In This State Capital, Over 30 Blasts in Just 80 Days
Source: NDTV

12 March 2014, Imphal:  In just the last 80 days or so, Manipur has seen a whopping 35 grenade or IED blasts, a majority of these in Imphal. In addition, another 15 bombs have been detected, and defused.

Three people were killed and 23 injured in Imphal’s latest Improvised Explosive Blast (IED) blast on Wednesday evening (11 Mar 2014) that took place near a crowded marketplace. This blast was the latest in a series of explosions that have rocked Manipur’s capital this year, continuing a disturbing trend over the last few years, where explosions, loss of lives and a general atmosphere of insecurity have become the norm in Imphal, and across the state.