- English translation
He pays to have himself chopped up, like molokhia.
- Literal wording
He hires someone for his own chopping, like molokhia.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying pictures a man who hires someone to chop him up, just as molokhia leaves must be finely minced before cooking. The joke is that he pays for his own undoing, arranging and funding the very treatment that destroys him.
In use, it faults a person who brings harm upon himself through folly and shortsightedness. Rather than being wronged by others, he works against his own interests, stirring up trouble that falls back on him because he failed to think ahead.
- When it is used
Use it to comment, mockingly or reproachfully, on someone whose own careless or rash choices are bringing trouble down on them, especially when they seem to be actively working toward their own harm. It suits critical or teasing remarks about self-inflicted problems.
- Region
- Egypt
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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