- English translation
When the shares were dealt out, I took my pile along with the rest. 'Poor thing,' people said. 'It's been that way since the day I was born,' I told them.
- Literal wording
They divided the portions; I took my heap. They said: 'Poor woman.' I said: 'Since my day.'
- Meaning and lesson
The saying pictures a sharing-out of fortunes in which the speaker, who is a woman, gets her 'heap', meaning her allotted lot in life, like everyone else. When onlookers pity her, she replies that her bad luck dates 'from my day', that is, since birth. It is not the result of this one distribution.
It describes a person whose ill fortune is permanent and runs through their whole life, rather than a passing stroke of bad luck. The reply carries a resigned, almost dry acceptance. Hardship is treated as an old companion, not a surprise worth fresh lament.
- When it is used
Say it about yourself, wryly, or about someone whose misfortune seems lifelong rather than temporary. It suits a light, self-mocking tone, as when someone offers sympathy over a fresh setback. The speaker answers that bad luck is nothing new.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic; rhymed folk saying
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: When the shares were dealt out, I took my pile along with the rest. 'Poor thing,' people said. 'It's been that way since the day I was born,' I told them.