- English translation
He's like the hired entertainers, putting on airs and giving orders in the house of the man who pays them.
- Literal wording
Like the hired singing women, he plays coy and pampered in the house of the patron.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying mocks a person who behaves with affected airs and bossiness in a place where they have no real standing. They act pampered and imperious toward the very host whose hospitality or money supports them, as though the house were their own.
The image is of العوالم, hired female singers at weddings and feasts (not scholars), turning fussy, coy, and demanding in the home of the زبون, the regular patron who pays them. يتبغدد, tied to Baghdad's reputed refinement, here means tiresome, overdone airs. The irony: the dependent acts as if the host must cater to them.
- When it is used
Aim this at someone, often a guest, employee, or hired helper, who puts on airs or acts like the boss in someone else's home or setting, as a mocking rebuke of misplaced self-importance. Because it rests on a stereotype of female entertainers, it can sound disparaging; use with care.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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