I leave you the best known Venezuelan sayings and popular sayings, a product of the various mixtures of cultures that have taken place in this country throughout its history. You can use them to share, reflect or as support for your work.
The sayings and sayings of a country or region are a true reflection of its idiosyncrasy. They were generally acquired a long time ago and passed on orally from generation to generation.
Indigenous, African and European influences make many of the Venezuelan sayings adaptations of others more universal. Irony and sarcasm are also widely used.
List of popular sayings and sayings of Venezuela
1- Goat that is returned breaks its neck: do not regret something at the last moment.
2- To be left without the goat and without the rope: have two alternatives and in the end run out of any (rope = rope). In other countries they say "run out of bread and cake."
3- Each pig gets its Saturday: there is a tradition of killing a pig to eat it every Saturday. It means that sooner or later your time will come.
4- The goat always pulls for the bush: bad education, bad manners sooner or later end up betraying a person.
5- The monkey, even if she dresses in silk, cute stays: it refers to the fact that no matter how much a person dresses or puts on makeup, they cannot hide their true physique.
6- Cachicamo telling Morrocoy conchudo: the cachicamo is an autochthonous animal similar to the armadillo; the morrocoy is a land tortoise with a very thick shell. The saying applies when a person often criticizes in another a defect that he himself suffers.
7- Do not hit that it is not a bolero: the bolero is a rhythm that is usually danced very close. This is said to the man who gets too close to a girl without her permission.
8- Warned war does not kill a soldier: "then don't say I didn't warn you."
9- Little by little you go away: it means that you have to have patience to achieve the objectives and goals in life.
10- Being like a cockroach in a chicken dance: not knowing where to stand, feeling that you are in the way anywhere, being out of place.
11- Be like an alligator in the mouth of the pipe: be alert, waiting to hunt something.
12- Being in three and two: it comes from the slang of baseball, the most popular sport in Venezuela. Being on 3 balls and 2 strikes means that either you are put out and out of the game, or you are given first base on the next pitch. It is used when you are on edge about something.
13- The devil knows more for being old than for being the devil: experience is gained over the years. Young people are told a lot when they think they know them all.
14- You chirped late, little bird: it's too late to talk or you were late for something.
15- Shrimp that falls asleep is carried away by the current: it is necessary to be attentive so that something does not happen.
16- To put on the espadrilles that what comes is joropo: the joropo is the typical dance of the Venezuelan plains, where espadrilles are used. It is said when things "get ugly" and it is time to act.
17- Do not waste gunpowder on zamuro: the zamuro is a bird of prey, it is not edible and therefore, it is not worth killing it because it has no use. It means that you don't waste time on things that don't matter.
18- Having the game “locked”: it has to do with the game of dominoes, when there are no more chips to put on the table. It applies when you do not know what to do or have no choice in a situation.
19- Neither washes nor lends the pan: the selfish are told that, having them, they do not provide solutions or alternatives to a problem.
20- Of such a stick, such a splinter: it applies when the son closely resembles the father in physical or attitude.
21- Son of a cat, hunting mouse: same as the previous one.
22- Grabbing even if it is a failure: when a payment or compensation is accepted even if it seems little. It is a version of the following saying, better known.
23- A bird in hand is better than a hundred flying: better to settle for something that you have insurance, than to try to cover a lot and lose everything.
24- Being a "pull rope": rope is a rope or rope. It is said that Simón Bolívar liked to have his hammock rocked with ropes. Those who offered to rock him, moving the rope, sought to get along with the Liberator. Flatterers, then, are called "pull ropes."
Rope
25- When the river sounds, it brings stones: if there is a rumor going around, there is something of truth behind it.
26- When there are new saints, the old ones do not perform miracles: in the face of novelty, the known loses interest. It also applies in the following saying.
27- New broom sweeps well. Same meaning as above.
28- I know you, little bird: it is said with mischief when someone tries to conceal or hide something they did.
29- Round the arepa: the arepa is a round bread made with corn flour. A Venezuelan "rounds off the arepa" when he completes his food or salary with something else.
30- Killing a tiger: looking for an additional or informal job to “round the arepa”.
31- He who is born pot-bellied, or that they make him small: it is difficult or impossible to correct a defect in someone.
32- A tree that is born crooked, its trunk never straightens: whoever is born with a defect will not correct it for many years that pass.
33- More tangled than a kilo of tow: tow is a fiber that is used for cleaning, made with many loose threads tangled together.
34- More lost than Adam on Mother's Day: it is used to refer to someone who is very disoriented.
35- More difficult than pinching a donkey to death: it is used when talking about a very difficult task or to refer to a very improbable event.
36- Harder than sancocho de pata: it is used to refer to something that is very hard.
37- The snake kills itself by the head: problems are faced directly.
38- "Are you going to continue, Abigaíl?" : it is said when a person is very insistent or has an endless conversation. It has its origin in a soap opera from the 80s (Abigaíl) that was very successful and that is why they extended it for many months.
39- As it comes, we see: it also comes from a very famous character from a telenovela from the 90s (Por Las Calles). It means that as events unfold, you will see what action to take.
40- On the way the loads are straightened: not everything is as terrible as it seems at first. It gets better over time.
41- Donkey that thinks drops the load: it is not necessary to think so much about simple things.
42- A gift horse does not look at its tusk: if they give you something or it does not cost you money, do not criticize it.
43- To God begging and with the mallet giving: you appear to be good and behind you do bad things.
44- To foolish words, deaf ears: we must not take account of those people who speak without having knowledge about a subject or those others who only make destructive criticisms to harm us.
45- Believe yourself the father of ice cream: believe yourself a great thing, be too conceited.
46- In a blacksmith's house, a wooden knife: refers to the lack of some object or capacity of a person in a place where it is normal or natural to get said object. It is also used when children do not choose the profession of their family.
47- The boy who is a crybaby and the mother who pinches him: the situation is bad and someone, instead of helping, complicates it.
48- In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king: among the weak or disadvantaged, anyone with minimal strength or virtue stands out above the rest.
49- The one that covers a lot, little squeezes: don't try to do more than you really can.
50- Earning indulgences with someone else's scapular: claiming someone else's achievements as your own
51- Farewell of drunkards: when the farewells get too long.
52- Staying as a village bride (dressed and in an uproar): so says a person who stays waiting for something or someone.
53- Give more turn than suckling in the mouth of an old woman: the suckling is a wild Venezuelan fruit, round, small and not very fleshy that, to be able to eat it, you have to put it in your mouth and try to detach its meat with your teeth. For people without teeth, it becomes very difficult to eat.
54- When the poor man washes, it rains: referring to bad luck.
55- If I set up a circus and dwarfs grow: when problems get worse and arise one after another. It refers to a streak of bad luck.
56- Whoever does not know you should buy from you: those who promote themselves too much or claim to be more than they really are are told.
57- It left me like the guayabera: the guayabera is a shirt that is worn outside the pants. This saying applies when someone is excluded from a plan or conversation.
58- If you are not going to iron, do not wrinkle: if you are not part of the solution, do not be part of the problem.
59- Coriander is good, but not so much: coriander is a very aromatic herb that is used for cooking. This saying is said to warn against overdoing it.
60- What belongs to the priest, goes to the church: if it is for you, it will come.
61- So much swimming to die on the shore: so much working for something to eventually lose it.
62- Neither so bald nor with two wigs: neither so much nor so little. It is used to refer to a person who either passes or does not arrive.
63- You are going to be run over by an ice cream cart: you say to a very excited person.
64- More is the noise than the cabuya (rope): it is similar to the saying "much noise and few nuts." It refers to people who talk a lot but do not comply with what they say with their actions.
65- Do not be anyone's showcase: do not keep any secrets.
66- A stuffed animal is going to bite you: it is often used to warn conceited people that their bragging can play a trick on them.
67- Love with hunger does not last: it comes to say that, no matter how much a couple loves each other, if there are financial problems, love will end.
68- Know more than a fried fish: it refers to a person who is an expert in something.
69- Eat more than new lime: it is said of a person who is very gluttonous or eats a lot. It is a simile with the hand file, which works very well at first and "eats" nails easily.
70- Who was bitten by Macagua, liana for the hair: refers to those people who, after very bad experiences, take measures so that they do not happen again. Macanagua is how the natives refer to a dangerous viper.
71-By the eye percent: when estimations are made by eye, without any measurement tool.
72-It's a mango shell: a trick question, which seems simple but is not.
73- Now the cat is mounted in the pan: when a situation becomes untenable.
74-We sowed mango and it came out parchita: it refers to a heterosexual marriage that conceived a homosexual child.
75-A lot of gum but little bomb: when a problem of something unimportant is created.
76-More is the noise than the cabulla: same as the previous one.
77-She is a garlic lollipop: an unpleasant person or who always acts in an unpleasant way for people.
78- Cachicamo works pa 'lapa: it is said when a naive person dedicates all his effort so that in the end the benefit goes to another.
79-The cross on the chest and the devil in fact: refers to those who are bad but hide it by going to church for example.
80- Heron eye, which hen does not see at night: it comes to say that caution is exercised.
81- Read in your book, which I read in mine: stay out of my business and dedicate yourself to yours.
82- Tall tree, sure fruit: it comes to say that there is not enough envy to destroy the fruit achieved by a great person.
83-Pouring it with great cocoa and it does not even reach coffee grounds: it is used for a person who boasts of what he does not have.
84-More lost than dwarf in procession: person who does not find his place. It can be applied in many aspects of life.
85-Jumped the talanquera: it applies to a person who has suddenly changed his attitude or his way of thinking.
86-I warn you chirulí: ironic or sarcastic way to black a proposition.
87-Farther than llanera block: when something is very far away.
88-As a Vallejos policeman: it is said of a person who tries to make believe that he does not realize the problem.
89-Do the Willie Mays: same case as the previous one.
90-It has more teeth than a dog fight: it is said of a person who has very large teeth.
91-As a disco ball: a person who looks everywhere.
92-Hunger is the best sauce: it means that when a person is hungry, they will not care what they put in their mouth to eat.
93-It's like a seal's ass: when something is very cold.
94-More grabbing than old on a motorcycle: it is said of a greedy or selfish person.
95-Carrying more eggs than a poor man's frying pan: it refers to a promiscuous person.
Themes of interest
Short sayings and their meaning.
Mexican sayings.
Spanish sayings.
Argentine sayings.
Sayings of love.
Sayings with rhyme.