Meaning of the shoemaker's children go barefoot | Babel Free

Definitions

One often neglects those closest to oneself; a tradesman may ironically neglect or postpone his own home's need for his trade's services.

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

CEFR level