- English translation
Like a Bedouin, he never lets a score go unsettled.
- Literal wording
Like the Bedouin, his vengeance does not slip past him.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying describes a person who holds on to every grievance until it is answered. Such a person will not let an insult or injury pass without retaliating, however much time goes by. The point is a settled habit of getting even, not a single act of revenge.
The image rests on a traditional stereotype, not a fact, of Bedouins as relentless in blood feuds; تار here is the colloquial form of ثأر, vengeance, not a string or drum. The proverb borrows that reputation to characterize anyone whose nature is to remember wrongs and repay them. It can warn others or remark on their stubbornness.
- When it is used
Use it critically for someone who nurses a grievance and seeks retaliation even after much time has passed. The reference to Bedouins invokes a traditional ethnic stereotype; quoting it about an individual can turn an observation about revenge into an insult.
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- Colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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