«بِالْوَعْدِ أَسْقِيكْ يَا كَمُّونْ»

This proverb reproaches someone who repeatedly offers assurances yet fails to deliver what those assurances promise. It conveys frustration when pledges accumulate while the expected action or result remains absent.

It is especially apt when delay is sustained by further promises rather than a clear refusal. Its image draws on a traditional saying that imagines cumin being put off with promises of water; this is figurative, not a claim about the plant.

Use it critically, often with irony, when someone answers an unmet expectation with more assurances instead of fulfillment. It may be addressed to the person making the promises or said about that pattern of conduct, but can sound pointed when directed at a particular person.