ProverbHub
Arabic · Arabic scriptProverb: Verified

«زَيِّ طَبْلْ نِشْوَهْ مَجْعُورْ وِمْلَاحِقْ عَلَى زَفِّتِينْ»

Meanings

Each meaning is reviewed on its own.

Meaning: Verified
English translation

Like Nishwa's punctured drum, made to play two weddings back to back.

Literal wording

Like the drum of Nishwa: punctured, and made to keep up with two wedding processions.

Meaning and lesson

The picture is a drum identified with Nishwa, a village, with a hole in it, already damaged, yet still carted from one wedding procession straight on to the next. Asking a defective instrument to serve two celebrations in a row turns the scene into a joke about overloading something that is already unfit.

Said of a person, it mocks someone who is not up to handling even one job yet tries to manage two together. The jab is that doubling the load does not hide the shortcoming; it simply puts that shortcoming on display twice over.

When it is used

Apply it to someone who is struggling with one responsibility and nevertheless adds a second, for instance a person attempting two roles while managing neither properly. The tone is mocking, so it suits teasing or pointed criticism rather than polite or formal remarks.

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