Tuesday, December 4, 2012

"kote ki gen chenn pa gen kou", how do you use this expression?

This expression is about unfortunate circumstances ...like an opportunity missed because of lack of resources
example:
Johnny has very rich parents who are willing to pay for his college education.  But Johnny doesn't want to go to college.
Katie's an exceptionally intelligent girl who wishes she could go to college, but her parents are too poor to afford it.
About this circumstance you can say:
Kote k gen chenn pa gen kou, e kote k gen kou pa gen chenn.
Where there's a necklace there's no neck, and where's there's a neck there's no necklace

Sometimes, Haitians just use the first half of that expression.  They will say Kote k gen kou pa gen chenn.  This sounds very much like where there's a will there's not a way and where there's a way there's no will.
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

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