# Biri yer biri bakar, kıyamet ondan/bundan kopar



## rupertbrooke

What does this proverb/idiom mean literally? It is translated in my phrase book as 'One eats, while another does not; this is why the Judgement Day arrives'. Then what kind of context would it normally be used in: in other words, what is its metaphorical meaning.


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## Rallino

When only some of the members of a given group are privileged to profit from something while others are left with nothing, there can be quite a big fight because of it. 
If not everyone has equal rights, there will be problems in the public.


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## murattug

also we could say "if you have something delicious and expensive, do not eat it in public, do not show it to everyone"


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## rupertbrooke

Thanks, murattug. I always appreciate your comments & help.


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## Reverence

It's not particularly wise to flaunt your fortune in public. The less fortunate may take issue.


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## Muttaki

The Judgement Day in a sense is a punishment. So the proverb warns you if you eat something without sharing it with the other who has nothing to eat but is looking at you, the Judgement Day will come. I would argue that this is not to do with the concept of "equal rights", as Rallino suggests. Rather, it directly refers to property issues. You feel full, the other is hungry; you have luxurious houses and cars etc., the other is sleeping on the benches at nights; so on, so forth. This is not the case of equal rights because no one would say this proverb in order to refer to the prohibition of headscarf for instance, when it was prohibited in Turkey; or when some restrictions were made on alcohol using again no one would use such a proverb in the sense that "we are being prohibited on taking alcohol but they enjoy whatever they want".

When you eat something in public showing it to everyone, you are just making it manifest to everyone that you have something "delicious and expensive" to eat. So, it is not because you are showing it, it is because you are making it known to those who will utter this proverb. Thus, I don't agree with murattug. The proverb does tell that do not eat something alone while the other is hungry, it doesn't say that you can eat but just don't show it. The reason is that a Turk who thinks there is a problem with the situation in which one eats the other looks, when he/she knows that you are rich though you don't make it manifest to anyone, while the other is very very poor, he/she will again say "Biri yer biri bakar, kıyamet ondan kopar".


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## rupertbrooke

Thank so much, Muttaki! What you wrote was very instructive.


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