- English translation
Just a green melon some young donkey snapped off, and that's the whole of it.
- Literal wording
An unripe melon, and a young donkey cut it.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying declares that a matter has become plain and that any further disagreement about it is pointless. With the facts now in view, the speaker regards the question as closed and sees nothing left that is worth contesting.
Its effect is to cut debate short with an air of finality. Rather than weighing more arguments, the speaker sums up the whole affair in one small, homely picture, an unripe melon of a familiar local variety snapped off by a young donkey, and insists that this is all it comes to.
- When it is used
Use it when an argument keeps going though the matter is already clear, to signal that the case is settled. It closes the dispute itself, not a jibe at a person or a remark about donkeys, and suits relaxed everyday conversation.
- Register
- Colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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