Patf Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 "Un main que tu ne peux pas couper. Baise-la, et mets-la sur ta tête."Seen on a gardening forum as advice to someone wanting to get rid of nettles and ronces.It's supposed to be a Turkish proverb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Sacré bleu, Patf! That's a weird one...It looks like a slight misquote: I can only find it as "Baise la main que tu ne peux couper." No mention of putting it on your head!As you probably already found out, it's from a 10C Persian poet called Abu Shakour - and seems quite well-known in France, but I don't see anything about it in English. And how could it possibly be applied to nettles and brambles?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Don't put it in Google Translate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 QUOTEAnd how could it possibly be applied to nettles and brambles?--------------I wonder if, in the context mentioned, it could mean that both those plants are so difficult to eradicate, you might as well love them for - respectively - usefulness as a fertiliser, and provider of delicious blackberries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 Yes it's a puzzle. I should have added that the OP asked which herbicide would kill them.So maybe it means something like "don't treat something/someone who is a problem too harshly. Better to try to correct a little at a time." Herbicides etc are frowned on , on that forum.I didn't know that the Turcs spoke french. Maybe the Persians did.Here's the link:https://www.rustica.fr/forum-jardinage/orties-ronces-t18482.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Yes, I think Persians did use French a lot. Certainly the Persian girls at my school in the 1960s spoke fluent French (very dispiriting for the rest of us in the A-level French class!The French sites I have seen seem to vary in interpretation. Some, as WB suggests above, and some give a notion of hypocrisy mixed in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Never heard such a comment being made ...... find difficult to understand the meaning of it too ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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