- English translation
"Why are you rushing around like that?" they asked. "My niece is having a wedding," she replied.
- Literal wording
They said: "What is it with you, running and scurrying?" She said: "My sister's daughter is holding a wedding."
- Meaning and lesson
The saying is applied to a person who exhausts themselves through constant striving and busyness. It points to someone whose energy is being spent in rushing from one demand to the next until the fatigue becomes plain to see.
Its picture is a brief colloquial exchange: onlookers ask a woman why she is running and hurrying, and she answers that her sister's daughter is celebrating a wedding. The scene offers an everyday image of someone worn down by bustle around a family festivity.
- When it is used
Apply it to someone visibly running themselves ragged, hurrying about and tiring themselves out over a task or occasion.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: "Why are you rushing around like that?" they asked. "My niece is having a wedding," she replied.