- English translation
"Where are you off to, plump lady?" "Off to set the lopsided one right."
- Literal wording
Where are you going, O fat one? I am going to straighten the crooked one.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying is a playful dialogue in praise of plumpness. Fatness is imagined as a woman on an errand who answers that she is off to repair the 'crooked' one. That figure is a thin woman whose leanness was felt to spoil her looks, not someone morally dishonest.
The saying reflects a historical beauty ideal that prized a full body and treated thinness as a flaw, holding that extra flesh hides blemishes. It records that attitude rather than offering advice or a universal norm. It also does not carry the older Arabic variant's sense about a newly rich, stingy person.
- When it is used
Traditionally said in playful praise of a fuller figure, especially when someone is thought to look better after gaining weight. It reflects a beauty ideal that treats thinness as a flaw, so directed at someone's body today it may sound intrusive or insulting.
- Register
- Colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: "Where are you off to, plump lady?" "Off to set the lopsided one right."