«لُولَا النَّقْرْ وِالنِّشَارَهْ كَانِتِ النِّسْوَانِ اتْعَلِّمِتِ النِّجَارَهْ»

The saying claims that carpentry would be open to anyone, even women, whom its traditional framing assumes would stay out of the trade, were it not for the painstaking work of chiseling and sawing. That assumption belongs to the saying's era and is not endorsed here. A craft's hidden difficulty is what keeps casual newcomers away.

In practice it describes hesitation that sets in once a person sees what a task really demands. Something that seemed simple from outside loses its appeal when the tedious, exacting labor inside it becomes clear. The Arabic end rhyme of النِّشَارَهْ with النِّجَارَهْ gives the line its proverbial ring.

Use it when someone backs away from a task after realizing how much fiddly, demanding labor it involves, or to observe that a job looks easy only to those who have not tried it. Its framing of women as outsiders to the trade can sound dismissive today.