I’m sayin’ it’s a male, he still says to milk it.
– local oral tradition
This local proverb is used when someone insists that you must do something, but that thing simply can’t be done. The farm/nomad logic here is straightforward. You can’t milk male animals, only females. Perhaps a similar saying in English would be “trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.” It can’t be done.
Our Central Asian locals can be quite persistant when they believe you can and should do something for them, but are perhaps holding out on them. This proverb seems like the kind that comes out after multiple rounds of trying to explain that you really are not able to oblige a given request. It’s a sort of appeal to a third party to side with you in the impossibility of the request.
I haven’t had the pleasure of using this particular local proverb yet, but am hoping that I will have the chance to do so at some point.
“No, elder brother, I’m telling you the truth. There is no way I can possibly acquire an American wife for you. Seriously. It can’t be done!”
“But dear teacher, I’m sure you know someone. Does your wife have any unmarried sisters?”
“Mud of the world upon my head. No. I’m saying it’s a male, he still says to milk it!”
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Entrusted to the Dirt 