- English translation
The co-wives' boat sails on, while the brothers' wives' boat is left adrift.
- Literal wording
The co-wives' boat sailed on, and the boat of the brothers' wives lost its way.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying sets two boats side by side: one carries women who share a husband, the other carries women married to brothers. The first keeps moving, while the second goes astray, so the brothers' wives are pictured as the pair whose relationship breaks down.
Its point is that the friction among women married to a set of brothers is judged harsher than the friction among co-wives of one man. For all their quarrels, the co-wives still get somewhere; the brothers' wives do not. It is a traditional judgment, not a fact about women.
- When it is used
Suited to a pointed remark about strained relations between women married to brothers, with co-wives held up as the point of comparison. Because it generalizes about women, applying it to particular people can sound dismissive or hurtful.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: The co-wives' boat sails on, while the brothers' wives' boat is left adrift.