Jug : noun A jug is a receptacle, often of sandstone or earthenware, with a narrow neck, a wide body, and a handle.
Thick in form and hollow in mind. He is quite a jug, not to understand.
Silly, stupid and ignorant person.
Look like a pitcher: look stupid.
What a jug, this guy! : What an imbecile.
The expression "So much the pitcher in the water that in the end it breaks / shatters":
- What we use too often ends up no longer being able to be used
- What we use too often ends up no longer being able to be used
- We always end up suffering the bad consequences of a danger to which we expose ourselves too often.
The jug is here a container, generally made of terracotta, used to contain various liquids, including water. Such a container does not have an infinite lifespan, and by dint of using it, it ends up arriving at a point where it breaks, either through wear or more often through clumsiness on the part of its user.
The image is therefore easy to understand. It seems to originate in the thirteenth century where it is found in the form tant goes the pot to the well that it breaks. Then in the Renart's novel we find both go well with the water and the breeze.
This proverb is also quoted by the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) in his Don Quixote de la Manche (1605).
This proverb is also quoted by the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) in his Don Quixote de la Manche (1605).
The metaphor said otherwise, the less risks we take, the less we expose ourselves to danger, and the less likely we are to be the victim.
Revival of the expression by the French humorist Pierre Dac (1893-1975) "So much goes the jug with water that at the end it is full" in Eternal thoughts.