Que Dijeron?

I haven't heard many dichos (sayings) in Panama, but another volunteer told me an interesting one.

Here's the story (as I remember it):

There was a family of mice who were being terrorized by a cat.  Every time they left their home to get food the cat would appear and chase the mice away.

The mice were trying to come up with a solution to their cat problem.  After a couple of ideas were dismissed outright, one of the mice suggested tying a bell (cascabel) to the cat's collar so that they'd be able to hear it coming.  All of the mice thought this was a fantastic idea.

One of them asked "pero quien va a poner el cascabel?" (But who is going to put the bell on the cat?) and none of them volunteered to do so.  The cat problem went unsolved.

Meaning/Analysis:
Great ideas are meaningless if no one will take the risk to put them into action.

To be used in situations where lots of good ideas are floating around, but no one is putting them into action.


Other things that people say:
1. Something that Panamanians say in conversation all the time is oiste? or oyo? (did you hear?), especially when explaining something or giving directions.  It seems odd because typically there's no way that you could have not heard the person, you may not have understood them, but you definitely heard them.  It's just something that people say here and most of the time it's a rhetorical question.

2. Me explico?
I really like this construction.  It means "Am I explaining myself?" and it's much nicer than saying me entiendes (Do you understand me?) because it places the burden of being understood on the speaker instead of the listener and doesn't make the listener feel unintelligent or silly if they need to ask for clarification.

3. Buenas
The most common greeting in Panama.  It literally means "good", but is used to greet people on the street as you're pasearing in your community or to call into a neighbor's house (or store) to see if anyone is around and to get their attention.

4. Vaina
Literally means "thing/stuff" but can be used in conversation to refer to almost anything in a positive or negative way.

5. Chechere
Similar to vaina, it also means "things" or "stuff" but in a less formal way, closer to "junk"

6. yeye
Meaning "fancy", "rich" (monetarily), or "posh".

7. Bochinche
Gossip.  A person can be bochinchos@.

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