- English translation
Dress up a brick all you like; you'll only get a shabby old crone.
- Literal wording
Put clothes on the brick, and it becomes a karkuba (a decrepit, time-worn old woman).
- Meaning and lesson
The saying argues that dressing something up cannot change what it fundamentally is. However much finery you put on a plain or crude object, the result stays unappealing, and no amount of covering makes it any better or more useful.
In wider use, it dismisses the idea that clothing or ornament can create beauty or hide ugliness. Its punchline relies on an unflattering image of a decrepit old woman, which can read as demeaning toward older women. The rhyme is lost in English.
- When it is used
Said when someone expects new clothes or decoration to make an unattractive person or thing appealing; it mocks the effort spent on finery. Because its image disparages older women, it is best discussed as a traditional saying rather than aimed at a person.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Dress up a brick all you like; you'll only get a shabby old crone.