the shoemaker's children go barefoot
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.70 in modern English
55
Scrabble Score
31
Letters
6
Syllables
17
Unique Chars
Meaning
proverb
One often neglects those closest to oneself; a tradesman may ironically neglect or postpone his own home's need for his trade's services.
Example Sentences
- "I've got a lovely wife who's a professional photographer, three lovely grown children, a lovely old dog with bad hips and a good disposition, and an old house which is always in desperate need of repairs. My wife says that’s because the shoemaker's kids always go barefoot and the carpenter’s house always has a leaky roof."
- "Traditionally, ‘the shoemaker's children go barefoot’; i.e., users of computational statistics ignore statistical issues—such as sensitivity analysis—of their simulation results."
- "So we eventually listened to the unfinished studio CD through his daughter Eve's ghetto blaster. I made the predictable joke about the shoemaker's children who always go barefoot. It had been the same at Elton John's place, Bono revealed."
- "Just as the shoemaker's children go barefoot and the carpenter's children live under a leaky roof, I knew this day would come. I am a church worker whose child has stopped going to church."
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
the cobbler's children are the worst shod
the cobbler's children go barefoot
the cobbler's children have no shoes
the shoemaker's son always goes barefoot