- English translation
"Juha, your dog has come down with a fever!" "Let it be; it has nothing better to do anyway."
- Literal wording
They said: O Juha, your dog has the fever. He said: There, he is free for it.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying shrugs off another person's misfortune as a fitting occupation for them. In the joke, the stock comic figure Juha hears that his dog has a fever and replies that the idle animal is free to spend time on it. The line works as a punchline, not as real indifference to an animal's suffering.
Applied to people, it targets someone weighed down by an unpleasant task or a hard situation that they have earned or that suits them. The speaker implies there is no need for pity, since the trouble has landed exactly where it belongs and the person deserves to deal with it.
- When it is used
Use it wryly when someone who brought trouble on themselves, or who is well suited to a burden, ends up stuck with it. It shrugs off sympathy and can sound dismissive or unkind, so avoid it when someone is truly distressed or the suffering is undeserved.
- Register
- Colloquial, humorous
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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