- English translation
Monkey, watchman and broom peddler all in one.
- Literal wording
A monkey, a watchman, and a seller of brooms.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying targets a person who takes on many different roles or tasks at once and handles none of them properly. Spreading effort across unrelated duties leaves each one done poorly, so the sum of these jobs adds up to little real accomplishment.
The image stacks mismatched roles onto one figure, a monkey, a guard and a broom seller, so the listener pictures something comically overcommitted. The phrase can be read as a monkey doing guard duty and peddling brooms, or as three separate occupations. Either way the point about scattered effort holds. The Arabic words for guard and brooms chime in rhyme.
- When it is used
Use it to tease or criticize someone who keeps adding jobs or projects without mastering any, such as a colleague juggling unrelated tasks badly. Because it mocks competence, it can land as a pointed insult when aimed at someone directly.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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