- English translation
Damn borrowed things! Even if my own mother were the lender, she would take it back from me without any embarrassment.
- Literal wording
May the loan be cut off! If it were my mother's, she would take it back from me and feel no shame before me.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying holds that a borrowed item never truly belongs to the person using it. Even the closest possible lender, pictured here as one's own mother, will reclaim what she lent and feel no awkwardness toward the borrower in doing so.
The opening curse is an exasperated exclamation aimed at the loan itself, not a literal wish for harm against any person. It voices the borrower's frustration that something in hand can be taken away at any time, because the lender's right to it outlasts any bond of kinship or affection.
- When it is used
Fits a moment when a borrowed item has been reclaimed or must be returned, letting the speaker complain that a loan never becomes one's own, whoever the lender is. The mother figure stresses that even the nearest relationship does not change who owns the thing.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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