- English translation
Don't eat the broken pieces, don't break the whole loaves, and eat your fill, my son's wife.
- Literal wording
Broken, you will not eat; and whole, you will not break; and eat, O wife of my son, until you are full.
- Meaning and lesson
A mother-in-law tells her son's wife not to eat the broken pieces and not to break the whole loaves, then urges her to eat until she is full. Bread is implied rather than named. The closing invitation is ironic, since the two bans leave nothing to eat.
The saying is aimed at anyone who gives orders that contradict each other, so that obeying one rule means breaking another. The mother-in-law scene is only its image, not a general claim about in-laws or family relations.
- When it is used
Use it to mock instructions that cancel each other out, such as a boss who forbids both options and then demands results. It suits teasing or pointed complaint among people who know the domestic image. It is less suitable where it might seem to belittle someone's in-laws.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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