- English translation
Let the unlucky man go into the skullcap business, and God will start making people with no heads.
- Literal wording
The ill-fated one, if he came to trade in skullcaps, our Lord would create people without heads.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying pokes fun at a person whose luck is so poor that the world itself seems to rearrange against him. If such a man went into business selling skullcaps, the small caps worn close on the head, the absurd result would be that heads stop existing, leaving his goods without buyers.
More broadly, it voices a resigned belief that misfortune follows certain people into any undertaking. The image of God creating headless people is comic exaggeration about fate, not a serious theological claim. The humor softens the complaint, turning frustration with repeated failure into a picture of cosmic bad timing.
- When it is used
Use it as a wry, self-mocking or teasing remark when someone known for bad luck starts a new venture, or after a plan fails through no apparent fault. It suits informal talk among people who share a fatalistic sense of humor, not formal advice.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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