- English translation
Even dogs leap onto a wall that stands too low.
- Literal wording
The low wall, the dogs jump up onto it.
- Meaning and lesson
The image is a wall built so low that even stray dogs can jump onto it without effort. The proverb applies this to a person who looks weak, unprotected, or easy to disregard. Such a person becomes a target, and even the meanest and least worthy people feel free to push them around.
The saying also makes a general point: lacking strength or standing invites disrespect. Whoever offers no resistance or commands no regard will be trespassed upon by everyone, the petty and the contemptible included. It can express sympathy for the person treated this way or serve as a warning against appearing so vulnerable.
- When it is used
Use it when someone without a defender is pushed around, even by people of no importance, to lament that treatment or warn that seeming weak invites contempt. Because calling people dogs is a strong insult, aiming it at specific people can offend, and it may seem to blame the vulnerable.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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