- English translation
She gnaws through food like a weevil, but when there's a job to do she's hopeless.
- Literal wording
In eating, a weevil; and in the need, a wretched one.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying sets two scenes side by side. At the table the person is like a weevil, steadily gnawing through the food; the image concerns consumption, not looks. Once there is something to fetch, fix or attend to, she becomes inept and sluggish. Her appetite is quick, but her usefulness is close to nothing.
The barb lies in that imbalance between taking and giving. The speaker faults someone who shares fully in what a household provides but offers little effort in return. Matʿūsa, usually luckless, here means hopeless at practical work. Its rhyme with sūsa sharpens the contrast and makes the line memorable.
- When it is used
A mocking complaint, framed in the feminine, about a woman or girl who eats heartily but turns clumsy, slow or useless when asked to help, run an errand or handle a chore. It is disparaging, best kept to teasing or venting among people who know each other well.
- Register
- Colloquial and disparaging
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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