Scabies with pleasure does not itch
Scabies has a very bad press. It used to be said of someone: “Uh this is more fucked up than scabies”, worse could not be; or else: “Uh, that’s older than scabies”… That is: scabies always an insult, never a compliment…
Sarna is an old pre-Roman word, from Hispania. One of its first mentions was in the Etymologies, of San Isidoro de Sevilla, around the year 600, where he tells us: “inpetigo est sicca scabies prominens a corpore cum asperitate et rotunditate formae. Hanc vulgus sarnam apellant”… Do I have to translate it for you?… “Inpetigo is a dry, prominent crust on the body that is hard and spherical in shape. This is what people commonly call scabies “…
Today’s popular saying alludes to the fact that the problems sought voluntarily, bother less or cope in the best way. When obtaining something desired, the price to pay does not weigh so much… And it is not that the scabies stopped itching the subject in question, only that the guy, doomed as he was to get his own, did not have time to scratch… And yes, we self-proclaimed humans work like this, pedaling many times!…
In some countries they say “Sticks with pleasure do not hurt”, that it should not be taken as a variant of “Paste me that I like”but, well, the metaphors will help to understand… or not…
As with many proverbs, this one had its appendix: “Scabies gladly does not sting but mortifies”, which enhanced its original meaning. Because a nuisance, if it is pleasant for us, ceases to be a nuisance… The Caribbean people, always ahead of the curve, found a way around the proverb and completed it!: “Scabies gladly does not itch, and if it itches, it does not mortify”and they began to sing it and dance it…
