A phrase comparable to 'In the house of the blacksmith, wooden knives'

Asked Mar 28 '20 at 18:23

Active Mar 28 '20 at 18:23

Viewed 921 times

In Spanish, we have a phrase..

En casa de herrero, cuchillos de palo.

Literally,

In the house of the blacksmith, wooden knives.

The meaning is probably clear, but some examples:

A math teacher whose children cannot add.
A software engineer who is still using Windows 95 at home.
...a country which supposedly leads the world in technology and industry, yet is still incapable of providing the most basic of manufactured goods needed to confront a major crisis and must import them.

Is there a comparable expression or phrase in English that describes this situation?

asked Mar 28 '20 at 18:23

At this very moment in NYC, Doctors and Nurses are being asked to use diapers and scarves as face masks. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Mar 28 '20 at 18:27
@Peter Shor I had been hoping to leave the Q open a little longer...and the dupe would have been impossible to find unless possibly you remembered it. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Mar 28 '20 at 18:37
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Another duplicate, with "the cobbler's children are the worst shod," which is essentially the same idiom as "the shoemaker's children go barefoot." – Peter Shor Mar 28 '20 at 19:12
@PeterShor I had almost included the equivalent of that in the Q ["en casa de Zapatero andan descalzos"], but my native-speaker wife said it was probably not as common in Latin America as the other expression. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Mar 28 '20 at 19:18
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The car designer works from home. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 28 '20 at 19:21
@EdwinAshworth Especially this week? month?....year? – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Mar 28 '20 at 19:22
It reminds me of the barefoot cobbler's son. He who makes all the shoes end up making none for his own kids. A lesson in priorities for busy people. Edit: Yes, I just saw the other comment as I added this one. – Elliot Mar 29 '20 at 03:34
"The editer's posts are ridled with tipos." That certainly applies to me. – Sven Yargs May 11 '21 at 04:29

0 Answers0