«لَا إِحْسَانْ وَلَا حَلَاوِةْ لِسَانْ»

The saying faults a person who offers nothing of value on either front: no material help or good deed, and not even the small consolation of courteous, pleasant speech. It marks the double failure of someone who could at least have softened a refusal with kind words but chose not to.

It works as a complaint about meanness of character, where tight-fistedness is paired with a cold or grim manner. The implied standard is that if a person cannot or will not give, gentle words are the least one should expect, so lacking both is a sign of real ungraciousness.

Say it about someone who neither helps nor speaks graciously, for example a stingy, sour host or a superior who withholds both support and courtesy. It voices frustration that not even a polite word was offered; as pointed criticism, it can sound insulting if said to the person directly.