Yo kolalapnit kalaykalay sowi’ napagarakgasak sa kina’ban nga rimegsowi’.

ETHNOLINGUISTIC NOTE

Yo kolalapnit kalaykalay sowi’ napagarakgasak sa kina’ban nga rimegsowi’.

Literally, “The upside-down hanging bat laughs at the topsy-turvy world.”

This traditional Boie’nen proverb employs the bat (kolalapnit), an animal naturally suspended upside-down, as a metaphor for human perspective. The irony lies in the bat’s failure to recognize its own inverted condition while mocking a world it perceives as disordered. The proverb reflects a culturally salient observation that people often judge others from within their own unexamined assumptions, habits, and biases.

Unlike many equivalent sayings that emphasize hypocrisy, this proverb places greater emphasis on perspective, self-awareness, and the relativity of what is considered normal. The expression rimegsowi’ (“twisted-upside-down; topsy-turvy”) intensifies the image of disorder and reinforces the contrast between perceived and actual conditions.

The proverb serves as a humorous but profound reminder that the most difficult faults to recognize are often one’s own. It is traditionally applicable to situations involving self-righteousness, misplaced criticism, lack of self-reflection, or judgments made from a limited viewpoint.

———

Yo (The) kolalapnit (bat) kalaykalay (hanging) sowi’ (upside-down) napagarakgasak (laughs boisterously) sa (on/it/at)  kina’ban (world) nga (that is) rimegsowi’ (topsyturvy)

.