A proverb tradition
West African proverb traditions are among the richest on earth, and they are unusual in one important respect: the proverb is treated as a discrete piece of verbal art, not just a saying. Yoruba òwe, Akan ɛbɛ, Igbo ilu, Wolof léeb — each tradition recognizes proverbs as the foundation of careful speech.
The Igbo writer Chinua Achebe wrote that “proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten” — meaning that the right proverb dropped into a sentence can transform the meaning of everything around it. To call a person good with proverbs in a Yoruba or Akan setting is to call them, quietly, wise.
Ọmọ tó mọ ọwọ́ rẹ̀ wẹ̀ á bá àgbà jẹun
ọmọ tó mọ ọwọ́ rẹ̀ wẹ̀ á bá àgbà jẹun
Why Yoruba families say a child who learns to wash his hands earns a seat at the elders' meal — and how Igbo, English, and Confucian traditions imagine the same small discipline opening four very different doors.