First is worst!

My blogger friend Benjamín of "El Bable" came up with an interesting phrase in Spanish that his mother liked to use. The phrase is "En alguien debe caber la prudencia". It means "It must fall to somebody to have some sense". This is what you say when two people are arguing or when someone is arguing with you and you stop because "someone has to have some sense". This phrase "En alguien debe caber la prudencia" would be a good phrase for students of Spanish to learn because there are many opportunities to inject it into daily conversation. For example someone might be talking about how the Palestinians in Gaza are sending rockets into Israel and Israel keeps on building new settlements on the West Bank and the fight goes on and on. You might interject, "Pues..."En alguien debe caber la prudencia". Your friend might then say something like "¡Exactamente!"

My Ma had a similar phrase that she used to say in English but it was a little more blunt. When two of us kids were bickering she would say, "The smart one always steps aside for the stupid one". We would then both shut up and make faces at each other behind her back and point at each other to indicate that we were the smart one and the other party was the stupid one. When my Ma was giving out prizes to all the kids at a birthday party the kids would invariably push and shove to be the first in line. My Ma would say, "Remember children, first is worst and last is best". We would all then shift places to see who could be the"last is best" by being the last in line because absolutely nobody wanted to be the"first is worst". Poor Ma, she could never win.