«اِلنَّدْبْ بِالطَّارْ وَلَا قُعَادِ الرَّاجِلْ فِي الدَّارْ»

The saying ranks two misfortunes and, in deliberate hyperbole, calls a man's death the lesser one. Hearing the frame drum and dirges of mourning for him would be easier to bear than watching him sit idle in the house, contributing nothing.

In practice it is a scathing traditional rebuke of male idleness, assuming a household where the man was expected to earn outside the home. It conveys contempt for a man who avoids work, implying his idleness brings more shame and burden than losing him would.

Suitable for showing a sharp, mocking verdict on a man who stays home without working, as in reported speech, fiction, or discussion of traditional attitudes. Its hyperbole invokes a man's death, so aiming it at a real person is harsh and wounding, and its gendered assumptions may offend.