A young woman's old husband is taken away by a crocodile
A young woman 's going for an ablution in the Ganges with her fellow women resulted in her old husband being taken away by a crocodile
Telugu: Satt varito sariganga snanalu chestunte , musali moginni musali yettuku poindi
It is beaiful for its assonance and meaning.
The context: It is a custom among the Hindus to have a holy dip in the river duriing Pushkaras ( every 12 years) and during some festive seasons. It is a custom that both wife and husband have a dip in the rivers at the same time along with some others couples. While a young woman and her old husband along with some other couples were taking the holy dips , a crocodile took the old man away causing the young woman a lot of agony. ( The practice of taking the bath by a number of couples is called sariganga snanalu ( taking a bath together by wife arnd husband in the rivers) ( It is not a tale. The people in My region understand the idiom without any context. , in fact it is not a tale or something really happened )
This proverb is used in a humorous context to say that if we try to imitate others without knowing our limitations, we might find ourselves in real trouble..
I would like to know a similar and funny proverb in English.
Solution 1:
Don't try this at home.
It's a homily, grading into a platitude, rather than a proverb; I've seen it used in parody when some impossible feat, simulated by special effects, is shown on TV or at the cinema.
Urban Dictionary (slightly amended) gives the original usage:
Don't try this at home.
Phrase often used in TV shows. When people in them do stupid, dangerous or crazy things and show them to millions of people, and they don't want to be responsible for injuries, deaths or any consequences that could happen to the audience.
Solution 2:
Your explanation of the proverb brings to mind something that I (and probably a lot of other U.S. children) heard frequently when I tried to justify my actions to various adults with "All of my friends are doing it", which is:
If all of your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you jump too?
It's not a proverb, but I think the meaning is the same.