- English translation
His tongue is like a cobbler's shears: it never opens except on something filthy.
- Literal wording
His tongue is like the cobbler's scissors; it does not open except upon impurity.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying condemns a person whose speech is habitually foul. Whenever such a person opens their mouth, what comes out is abuse, insult, or obscenity, never anything clean or kind. The target is the shameless, foul-mouthed type who reaches for cursing by reflex.
The image comes from a cobbler's shears, used only on old, worn, unclean footwear. The tongue is likened to that tool: it opens only onto filth. The insult falls on the person's speech, not on cobblers or their trade, and casts coarse language as settled habit.
- When it is used
Use it to scold or describe someone known for insults and crude abuse, especially when every remark they make turns vulgar. It is a sharp, unflattering judgment best suited to informal talk, not to polite or formal settings.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic; disparaging
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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