- English translation
"Father, give me something to be proud of in our family." "Once everyone who knows me is dead."
- Literal wording
He said: O my father, honor me. He said: When the one who knows me dies.
- Meaning and lesson
A son asks his father to make him proud by telling of the family's lineage and accomplishments. The father does not refuse outright; his answer, that this must wait until everyone who knows him has died, quietly admits there is little noble history to tell, and that any flattering account would be contradicted by living witnesses.
More broadly, the saying exposes invented or exaggerated pedigree. Claims of distinguished origin can only flourish where nobody remembers the plain facts; people who knew a family's real circumstances make such boasting impossible, so prestige built on embellishment must find an audience of strangers.
- When it is used
Suitable for gently mocking someone who boasts of grand ancestry or a glorious past that acquaintances know to be ordinary, or for noting that inflated claims about origins only succeed among strangers. Its tone is wry rather than harsh.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic; a popular saying framed as a short dialogue
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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