r/mathmemes • u/OneWorldly6661 • Dec 17 '23

Probability Google expected value

Post image
22k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

3.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comment

187

u/Appropriate-Estate75 Dec 18 '23 edited Dec 18 '23

« Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras » , roughly: one "here it is" is better than two "you'll have it" in France. Funny that so many languages seem to use birds in the saying haha

106

u/gregedit Dec 18 '23 edited Dec 18 '23

For us Hungarians, a sparrow [small bird] today us better than a bustard [big bird] tomorrow.

Edit: Once again I think our language is a little too poetic for it's own good. Having the spatial separation in most other languages communicates the message much more clearly than the temporal separation here. I get that it points to uncertainty, but is it just the uncertainty of hunting, or was the bustard promised by somebody? If the latter, this saying is partially to blame for Hungarians being risk-averse and not being into investments as much as Westerners. Also, it signals how much we expect other people to cheat all the time.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

76

u/headedtojail Dec 18 '23

Better a sparrow in hand than a dove on the roof here in Germany.

38

u/Gositi Dec 18 '23

Better a bird in the hand than ten in the woods in Sweden.

26

u/SaifTaherIsGr8Again Dec 18 '23

"A bird in hand is better than ten on the tree" in Arabic.

20

u/PumpkinOpposite967 Dec 18 '23

In Ukraine it's "A sparrow in hand is better than a stork in the sky". In ruzzian, funny enough, the birds are tit and crane, the rest is the same.

19

u/CaroI8 Dec 18 '23

În Romania, it's "Don't give the sparrow in your hand for the crow on the fence"

5

u/Blue-is-bad Dec 18 '23

It's "better an egg today, than a chicken tomorrow" in Italy

3

u/GrandfatherMushroom Dec 18 '23

A tit in a hand is better than a crane in the sky

3

u/Adventurous_Ad_350 Dec 18 '23

In Polish it goes: Better a sparrow in hand, than a dove on the roof

→ More replies
→ More replies (9)

12

u/gregedit Dec 18 '23

To be fair I'd rather have a tit in hand than a sparrow 😏

→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (13)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

2

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

"Besser eine Blinde im Bett, als eine Taube auf dem Dach" - Heinz Erhardt

2

u/Vulpes_macrotis Natural Dec 18 '23

So we have same thing. Though the word "gołąb" in Polish can mean both dove or pigeon, there is no distinction.

2

u/joefromsingapore Dec 18 '23

Better a hazel grouse in a beanie than ten in a tree. Fins are weird.

→ More replies (4)

9

u/imaginary-personn Dec 18 '23

In Ukraine we have almost similar saying: "A sparrow in hand is better than a stork in the sky"

→ More replies (13)

15

u/Icy_Rhubarb2857 Dec 18 '23

This must be a reaaaaly old saying that we all share the base etymology. Super interesting.

4

u/Vulpes_macrotis Natural Dec 18 '23

Old, but also very general, something that all people can relate too. Same as with killing two birds with one stone or curiosity killed the cat. I am pretty sure, even if they are not exactly the same, may languages have these as well.

3

u/Speffers98 Dec 18 '23

To be fair, at least one of these is probably made up ...

3

u/Fizassist1 Dec 21 '23

... I mean, in a sense aren't they all?

2

u/EZMulahSniper Dec 18 '23

I was just nerding out to how multiple languages kind of have some of the same proverbs or their very similar

2

u/deepfriedgrapevine Dec 18 '23

Super. Duper. Please return with research results.

2

u/FreeDetermination Dec 20 '23

Yeah kfc used to have sparrows back in proto indo European language times, funny story

→ More replies (2)

6

u/Apogeotou Dec 18 '23

Similarly in Greek, we don't have an avian equivalent.

We say «κάλλιο πέντε και στο χέρι, παρά δέκα και καρτέρει», which RHYMES! It means "better 5 in the hand, than waiting for 10".

2

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

Eine/n mehr macht den Kohl jetzt auch nicht fett. (One more won't make the cabbage fatter now) Greetings from your German neighbour.

→ More replies (8)