- English translation
When people told her she was plump but blind in one eye, the woman answered: 'Then let the one make up for the other.'
- Literal wording
They said: 'O woman, you are fat and one-eyed.' She said: 'Set this one beside that one.'
- Meaning and lesson
The proverb argues that a good quality and a bad one in the same person can cancel each other out. The woman does not deny her defect; she sets an asset beside it, weighing the two as on a balance. The joke rests on an older ideal that counted plumpness as attractive.
It is used to defend accepting someone, or something, despite an obvious shortcoming, because a real merit makes up for it. The tone is wry and practical: instead of insisting on perfection, the speaker judges the overall package and finds it acceptable once strengths and weaknesses are tallied together.
- When it is used
Fits moments when someone stresses a flaw and the speaker answers that a matching strength offsets it, so the whole remains acceptable. Suits relaxed, joking talk; apply it to character or qualities, since aiming it at real people's bodies or impairments can sound mocking or hurtful.
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- Colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: When people told her she was plump but blind in one eye, the woman answered: 'Then let the one make up for the other.'