Below are a handful of common
Tretalleri sayings and idioms used in vernacular speech as well as literature.
A Black Beak On The Windowsill
Vetla arkorvë khavvë di'niri — This phrase is often used to describe an inauspicious event or a bad omen. It originates from urban
tretâllë living in the
Ivory City where most mail, save for the most urgent, was delivered on foot by couriers employed by the local government. Ravens sent in from outside the Ivory City are typically destined for one of the city's many rookeries, and from there the missives that they carry are assigned to a particular courier route and are delivered once the courier has received the missive.
Urgent mail, typically marked by a blue ribbon tied to the raven leg get sent directly to the home the message is addressed to, where the raven would usually scratch at a windowsill to catch the attention of a person at the house. These missives typically carry bad news, or at the very least, unpleasant news, and the sound of a raven scratching at the windowsill became inextricably associated with bad news.
Back Bared to the Sun
Lînnë fiarnë quna di'denë — To do something back bared to the sun is to do something with determination, however unpleasant it might be. The phrase has its origins in the tretalleri diaspora, during which leather clothing was more popular than clothes made from plant fibres (because they were scratchy), and clothes made from animal fibres (because they were difficult to source and more expensive). However, leather clothing had a distinct disadvantage of being quite uncomfortable in the sun. As a result, farmers and laborers who had to spend quite a fair bit of time outdoors in the sun elected to go without clothes on their torsos or without clothes at all, hence the expression.
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