«زَيِّ وْلَادْ الْكُتَّابْ يِنْسِرِعُوا مِنْ أَوِّلْ كَف»

The saying compares someone to young pupils at the kuttab who are thrown into a frenzy at the very first slap, breaking out in loud cries and tears. The picture is one of alarm that erupts at once, after nothing more than a single blow has landed.

Applied more broadly, it describes a faint-hearted person who panics at the first faint sound, piece of news, or frightening event that comes along. The comparison casts such a person as easily unnerved, someone who gives way to fear at the earliest sign of trouble.

Said of someone who loses composure and cries out in alarm at the first hint of danger or bad news. It passes judgment on the person's weak nerve, so aiming it at someone genuinely distressed may come across as dismissive or unkind.