- English translation
Get to the market first, Juha, even if it costs you your beard.
- Literal wording
Be at the beginning of the market, O Juha, even if by the cutting of beards.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying urges a person to arrive before everyone else when goods or chances first become available, since the earliest comer can pick the finest items while rivals have not yet seen them. Getting there first is presented as worth almost any inconvenience.
The clause about cutting beards is deliberate hyperbole for a steep personal cost, not literal advice: even suffering a real indignity should not stop you from being first. Calling on Juha, a stock comic figure of folk humor, lightens the tone, so the advice reads as humorous prodding rather than a stern rule.
- When it is used
Use it to nudge someone to show up early wherever the best choices disappear quickly, such as a market, sale, or distribution. The playful address to Juha suits friendly banter and teasing encouragement better than formal or serious advice.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic; proverbial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Get to the market first, Juha, even if it costs you your beard.