This is a chapter from my sixth book called Alphabet Soup - A different kind of cook book
They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Have you ever wondered where this phrase comes from? We do not really make lemonade in Trinidad. I do not think so but I could be wrong. We make lime juice. We use limes to wash our meat. Also, have you ever had lime pepper sauce? The homemade kind that has been in the sun for a few days. What about honey and lime for the sore throat or cough? I guess we could come up with our own saying of sorts. When life gives you a hard time, use lime or when life gives you a hard time then go liming. That is another way we use lime in Trinidad. Liming is our local way of saying to hang out with friends or family. Have you ever wondered where this usage came from? I read one story of the origin and it is funny and believable but maybe not true. Some QRC school boys were questioned why they were not in class. This was in 1920s Trinidad. They came up with the excuse that they were "liming" when in fact they were just hanging around under a tree. Liming was short for limewhashing in those days. This quick thinking spared them some good licks and so the word liming was born.
Now back to my first question. What is the origin of the saying about lemonades? My friend Gemini tells me that the saying is often attributed to American writer Elbert Hubbard. In a 1909 article in the Literary Digest he wrote, "A genius is a man who takes the lemons that Fate hands him and starts a lemonade-stand with them." And in a 1915 obituary for actor Marshall Pinckney Wilder, Hubbard expanded on the idea with, "He picked up the lemons that fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand." Gemini was quick to note that while the exact origin of the idea is unknown, Hubbard's words popularized the concept and made it a timeless adage encouraging optimism in the face of challenges.
It was only while researching for this chapter I came across the term anti-proverb or perverb. Not to be confused with preverb which I have seen been described as a clumpsy anagram of perverb. If it was preverp it would be a palindrome. I find the word to describe words that can be read both ways should be autological. I nominate the urban dictionary entry "palinilap" for this. It is like a whole new world has opened up to me. When life hands you proverbs make perverbs. I read that they are called perverbs since they are a perversion of the original. According to wikipedia an anti-proverb or a perverb is the transformation of a standard proverb for humorous effect. I also learnt about calque as in "The saying has become a popular calque in Hispanic culture." Cuando la vida te da limones, haz limonada. I feel like I have really juiced this topic and gotten all sorts of interesting things from it. Life gave me letters and I wrote the first chapter of Alphabet Soup. I found myself Googling "interesting lemonade recipes" and the one that caught my attention was pickle lemonade. We all know that life can put you in a pickle sometimes. Also, pickles and lemons in the same drink? I guess misery likes company.
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