- English translation
However long a dog's coat grows, nobody shears it for wool.
- Literal wording
The dog, if its wool grows long, is not shorn.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying points to something that grows or multiplies without becoming useful. A sheep's fleece is valuable because it can be sheared and spun, but a dog's long coat, however thick, is never sheared or spun, so its length brings no profit to anyone.
In use, it criticizes cases where quantity, size, or apparent richness hides an absence of real benefit. Growth that produces nothing worth gathering earns no admiration, and the speaker implies that judging something by its bulk rather than its yield is a mistake.
- When it is used
Use when something grows large or plentiful yet yields no practical return, such as unused possessions, a long report saying nothing, or wealth benefiting no one. It suits wry criticism of quantity mistaken for value; aimed at a person, it can sound dismissive of their worth.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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