- English translation
Either I get to foul your drinking water, or I won't come to your place at all.
- Literal wording
Either I piss into your water jar, or I go off and don't come to you.
- Meaning and lesson
The speaker offers only two options: foul the household's shared drinking-water jar or refuse to visit at all. Neither choice gains him anything, yet he insists on one of them. The saying captures a willful, self-defeating stubbornness that cares more about getting its way than about any real benefit.
Applied to people, it describes someone who clings to a demand that damages others while bringing them no advantage. Such a person would rather cause harm or walk away than accept a reasonable middle course, turning obstinacy itself into the goal.
- When it is used
Aimed at someone who sets impossible terms: either they get to do something spiteful that hurts the household, or they withdraw entirely. It mocks pointless obstinacy and suits informal settings; the crude verb for urinating makes it inappropriate for polite or formal company.
- Register
- Colloquial and coarse; the verb for urinating is a crude everyday word.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Either I get to foul your drinking water, or I won't come to your place at all.