Dalton Willard

March 7, 2024

The Past Sins of Fish are Heavy

Years ago, when learning Spanish for the first time, I was fascinated to discover rhyming words popping up where I would have least expected them in English. To wit:

Los pecados pasados del pescado son pesados.
The past sins of fish are heavy.

I'm sure that English has just as many fun twists and turns for non-native speakers to discover. I know that I've found a lot to love about my mother tongue. I find it fascinating to think about how rhyme influences a culture through language. (How has English songwriting been affected by the fact that love rhymes with the prepositions above and of rather than, say, through or for?)

I thought about it for a few minutes just now, and the closest I can get in English to the Spanish phrase above would be "dim tin fin sins", but it doesn't have quite the same ring to it.