ProverbHub
Arabic · Arabic scriptProverb: Verified

«مِنْ شَخ عَلِيكْ شُخ عَلِيهْ وَهِي كُلَّهَا نَجَاسَهْ»

Meanings

Each meaning is reviewed on its own.

Meaning: Verified
English translation

If someone pisses on you, piss right back on them. It's filth either way.

Literal wording

Whoever pisses on you, piss on him, and it is all impurity.

Meaning and lesson

The saying tells the listener to meet contempt or insolence with the very same treatment. When another person has belittled you or behaved foolishly toward you, the proverb recommends returning that behavior to them in kind rather than absorbing it.

The verb is a blunt, vulgar word for urinating, not a mild one, and urinating on someone serves as a crude figure for degrading another person. The closing clause labels the entire affair as impurity, and that description is offered as the ground on which a matching response becomes justified.

When it is used

Can be applied when someone has shown you contempt or treated you with foolish disrespect, to argue for repaying them in the same manner. Because the imagery is openly crude, consider the listeners before quoting it.

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