- English translation
Like donkeys grazing on couch grass: the donkey never has its fill, and the grass is never used up.
- Literal wording
Like the donkeys' eating in the couch grass: neither does the donkey get full, nor does the couch grass run out.
- Meaning and lesson
Picture donkeys turned loose in a field of najil, a grass so much to their taste that they keep cropping it without ever being satisfied, while the field holds so much that it never thins out. Appetite and abundance sustain each other, and the scene settles into an endless round where nothing is ever finished.
It is applied to anything that drags on without conclusion and that people also refuse to abandon, such as a habit, a quarrel, or a chore. The tone can suggest weary futility about effort that achieves no closure.
- When it is used
Use it for a situation with no natural stopping point: a habitual indulgence, a recurring argument, or an unending task, when neither side gives out or gives up. Likening conduct to donkeys grazing can offend, so avoid aiming it at someone present.
- Register
- Colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Like donkeys grazing on couch grass: the donkey never has its fill, and the grass is never used up.