- English translation
It'll either come off or it won't.
- Literal wording
Either it came, or it did not come.
- Meaning and lesson
The phrase describes an outcome that is truly undecided: the hoped-for result may arrive or it may not, and nobody can say which. It refuses to predict and simply lays out both possibilities side by side, admitting that the matter is beyond the speaker's control.
Used about one's own conduct, it describes acting on a chance. The speaker goes ahead without knowing whether the effort will hit its target or fall short. The tone accepts this risk rather than complaining about it: the step has been taken, and whatever follows will be taken as it comes.
- When it is used
Use it about something done or tried without any assurance of success, often after naming the action: 'I did it, yā jāl yā jālmadī.' It marks a deliberate gamble whose outcome the speaker openly admits is unknown.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: It'll either come off or it won't.