3 ms·
"When elephants fight, it's the grass that gets trampled" Not sure of the attribution of this quote.
by BLKNSLVR 2y ago
"When elephants fight, it's the grass that gets trampled"
Not sure of the attribution of this quote.
- genewitch 2y agoI got this off a .ke domain site that has an "African proverb of the day": > In the 1970s Julius Nyerere (then the President of Tanzania) used this proverb in a speech at the United Nations in New York. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire) Ambassador to Great Britain used this same proverb in a talk to a group of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in London. The meaning was the same: In the Cold War between the (then) two great super powers — the United States and Russia — it was the poor Third World countries such as those in Africa who suffered and were victimized. so that's probably why we've heard it; but it's probably much older than that. i didn't dig in to it too hard because that site was really slow, i got the attribution, though. you'll note it has a slightly different connotation - the "reeds" aren't the citizens of the warring countries - the "grass" is Africans.
- worik 2y agoI know it as: If the elephants are fighting or fucking the ants are scared The context I heard it was politics
- janalsncm 2y agoChinese equivalent: 城门失火，殃及池鱼 (When the city gate burns, fish in the moat suffer disaster.)