Privacy

Why are you meddling in the harvest, you worthless hanger-on?

This is a rebuke to someone who intrudes into business that belongs to others, especially when they have no recognized stake in it. The question implies that the person is pushing into a discussion or benefit from which they are excluded.

We have settled it between ourselves, so why are you interfering?

The saying rebukes a third person who objects after the people directly concerned have reached an agreement. Once the matter has been settled between them, that person's intervention is presented as unnecessary.

Eyes on his plate, ears on every word spoken around him.

The image is a person bent over a dish of food, apparently lost in the meal, while quietly tuning in to every voice around him: anyone who speaks up, not only someone who shouts. His outward focus is only a cover; his real attention is fixed on catching whatever others happen to say.

Let everyone lie on whichever side feels most comfortable to them.

The saying is figurative: it takes the private, ordinary choice of which side to lie on at night as an image for how people manage their own lives, not a remark about rest itself. No one tells another person how to settle into bed, and the same courtesy applies to wider personal decisions.

Lay your egg right where you do your clucking.

The picture is of a hen, which tends to cackle noisily as laying time approaches. The saying, addressed to her in the feminine singular, tells her to produce the egg on the very spot where she has been making her noise, rather than troubling anyone else with it.

The saying urges goodwill toward nearby people while preserving sensible personal limits. Its older “thy” gives the traditional wording an archaic tone. Kindness, cooperation, and affection do not require surrendering boundaries that protect one’s home, privacy, property, or independence.

Someone who listens in on talk not meant for them may hear criticism rather than praise. The saying warns that overheard conversation can be painful when it reveals unflattering private opinions.

The proverb presents the home as a place where its occupant can expect privacy and decide what happens within it. The castle image conveys security and independence.

A pair may enjoy one another’s company most when left alone. Adding a third person can change the encounter so much that it no longer feels companionable.