- English translation
Like the buckets on a waterwheel, the little ones piss on the big ones.
- Literal wording
Like the pots of the waterwheel: the small one pees on the big one.
- Meaning and lesson
The picture is a rotating waterwheel fitted with clay pots. As the wheel turns, the pots spill into one another, and drops from a small pot fall onto a bigger one beneath it, which the saying likens to the little one urinating on the big one. The words for small and big rhyme.
Applied to people, it mocks a situation in which those of low standing behave foolishly and impudently, overstepping their place and showing disrespect toward the eminent or senior figures among them. It is a scornful complaint about inverted order, and its condescending view of those it casts as inferior is not one to endorse.
- When it is used
Suited to informal talk when commenting sharply on a group, household or workplace where junior or lesser members act rudely toward respected seniors. Because the imagery is vulgar and the judgment scornful, it fits banter or complaint among peers rather than formal or mixed company.
- Register
- Colloquial and coarse; the verb for urinating is crude
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Like the buckets on a waterwheel, the little ones piss on the big ones.