- English translation
Just like a barber snapping his scissors to trick a bald customer.
- Literal wording
Like the barber: he fools the bald man with the clicking of the scissors.
- Meaning and lesson
The image is a barber who clicks his scissors above a bald customer's head. The sound suggests real cutting, so the customer believes he has hair worth trimming, feels pleased, and pays more. The barber earns money for work he never actually does. The verb often rendered 'laughs at' means fooling him, not openly mocking him.
Applied to people, the saying targets anyone who feeds pleasing falsehoods to naive listeners. The deceiver performs the outward signs of honest effort or agreement, while really exploiting the other person's gullibility to collect rewards, kindness, or advantage he has not earned. The bald man stands for any credulous target; the saying is not about baldness.
- When it is used
Use it to describe someone who wins favor or payment by staging a convincing show of service, telling gullible people what they want to hear. It works as a pointed remark about flattery or empty performance, and it implies the listener is being taken advantage of.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Just like a barber snapping his scissors to trick a bald customer.