[129] Tafia is the rum extracted from sugar-cane. “In vino veritas.”
306. Tambou tini grand train pace endidans li vide. (Le tambour va [lit: tient] grand train parcequ’il est vide en dedans.)
“The drum makes a great fuss because it is empty inside.”[130]—[Trinidad.]
[130] In Louisiana Creole, faire di-train is commonly used in the sense of making a great noise, a big fuss. An old negro-servant might often be heard reproving the children of the house in some such fashion as this:—“Ga!—pouki tapé fait tou di-train la?—Toulé pé?—pas fait tou di-train mo di toi!” (“Here, what are you making all that noise for?—are you going to keep quiet?—musn’t make so much noise, I tell you!”)
307. Tampée ka gagnen malhèrs ka doublons pas sa gueri. (Un ‘tampée’ achète des malheurs que les doublons ne peuveut pas guerir.)
“A penny buys troubles that doubloons cannot cure.”—[Trinidad.]
308. * “Tant-pis” n’a pas cabane. (“Tant-pis” n’a pas de cabane.)
“‘So-much-the-worse’ has no cabin.”[131]—[Louisiana.]
[131] This proverb is the retort for the phrase: “So much the worse for you.” Sometimes one might hear a colored servant for example, warning the children of the house to keep out of the kitchen, which in Creole residences usually opens into the great court-yard where the little ones play: Eh, pitis! faut pas restér là: vous ka casser tout! (“Hey! little ones, musn’t stay there: you’ll break everything!”) If the father or mother should then exclaim “Tant pis pour eux!”—so much the worse for them if they do break everything, you would hear the old woman reply: “Tant-pis n’a pas cabane!”—“So-much-the-worse has no cabin”—i.e., nothing to lose. She believes in an ounce of prevention rather than a pound of cure.
309. Temps moune connaîte l’aûte nans grand jou, nans nouîte yeaux pas bisoèn chandelle pou clairér yeaux. (Quand on connait quelqu’un [lit: un autre] dans le grand jour, dans la nuit on n’a pas besoin d’une chandelle pour s’éclairer.)