A pumpkin was given to me and it turned into a melon… I prefer a pumpkin to getting married with a whore

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Val. «Carabassa m’han donat i se m’ha tornat meló… més m’estime carabassa que casar-me amb un pendó»

Esta és una rima que s’utilitza després d’un fracàs sentimental, en concret quan un home ha sigut rebutjat per una xica. El xic diu esta frase per a consolar-se, perquè suposadament la xica no li convenia. La rima significa que preferix estar solter abans que casar-se amb una dona de vida irregular i desordenada. La locució «donar carabasses» prové d’un costum rural en què el pretendent a casar-se amb una xica era convidat a dinar a casa d’ella: si li oferien foc per al cigarro significava que la família acceptava el festeig; si li servien un plat de carabassa, volia dir que el mosso no era ben rebut i se n’havia d’anar. Com ella era una mala influència, el fet d’haver sigut rebutjat és més aïna una cosa positiva: com un meló, que és una cosa dolça.

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This is a rhyme that men use to console themselves after a disappointment in love, specifically when a man has been rejected by a woman. Supposedly this woman isn’t right for him. The rhyme means that he prefers to stay single rather than get married with a partygoer or a whore. The idiom ‘to give pumpkins’ (meaning ‘to give the brush off’) comes from a rural custom: when a man wanted to marry a girl, he was invited to her house. If the family offered him a match to light his cigarette, it meant the family approved the relationship. However, if he was given a pumpkin, it meant he was not welcome and he had to leave. But as she was a bad person, the fact of being rejected turns out to be a positive thing: like a melon, which is sweet and tasty.