- English translation
"Why is there a hole in the top of your cap?" "That's your excellent housekeeping at work, wife."
- Literal wording
"What's with your skullcap, cut open at the top?" He said: "From your managing, O woman."
- Meaning and lesson
The saying stages a small domestic exchange. A wife jeers at her husband because his cap has been cut open at the crown, and he answers sarcastically that the damage is a fine product of her careful household management. The blame is quietly turned back on the one doing the mocking.
As a proverb, it targets anyone who laughs at a flaw in something they were supposed to look after. The defect exists because of their own neglect, so their ridicule exposes their own failure. Though the exchange is framed between spouses, it is not a statement about women in general.
- When it is used
Use it as a pointed retort when someone ridicules a defect or shortcoming that came from their own carelessness. The tone is teasing but sharp, suited to informal exchanges where one person turns mockery back onto the one who mocked.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: "Why is there a hole in the top of your cap?" "That's your excellent housekeeping at work, wife."