- English translation
When a wanton woman tutors a clumsy one, the only fitting response is: may disaster take them both.
- Literal wording
A shameless woman is teaching a useless woman; someone said: a calamity for the two of them.
- Meaning and lesson
When a woman of loose conduct and poor judgment sets out to instruct a hopelessly inept one, the lesson can only make things worse. The incapable pupil will most likely pick up the teacher's own failings rather than any useful skill. The two rhyming labels carry moral and practical judgments.
The remark therefore gives up on both of them. Instead of hoping for improvement, the speaker wishes that some misfortune would carry the pair away together, a bitter, name-calling way of saying the partnership is worthless.
- When it is used
A scornful, offensive remark about a woman of bad character taking charge of guiding one who cannot manage anything. It insults both women and wishes them misfortune, so it should not be aimed casually at real people. The speaker dismisses the arrangement as hopeless.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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