don't shoot the messenger

English

WOTD – 21 May 2010

Pronunciation

Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)

Proverb

don't shoot the messenger

The bearer of bad news should not be held accountable for it.

Translations

the bearer of bad news should not be held accountable for the bad news

Arabic: ناقِلُ الْكُفْرِ لَيْسَ بِكافِرٍ‎ (nāqilu l-kufri laysa bikāfirin, literally “informing about other people’s disbelief does not make one a disbeliever”) (no perfect match, but used similarly)
Dutch: geef niet de boodschapper de schuld, schiet niet op de boodschapper, schiet niet van de boodschapper
Finnish: älä ammu viestintuojaa
French: ne tuez pas le messager, ne tirez pas sur le messager
Italian: ambasciator non porta pena

Kurdish: qasid êrî û bêrî ye (ku)
Russian: горькие вести и гонцу не на ра́дость (gorʹkije vesti i goncu ne na rádostʹ), (somewhat) желанные вести — мил гоне́ц (želannyje vesti — mil gonéc), (somewhat) по вестям и гонца встречают (po vestjam i gonca vstrečajut)
Spanish: no disparen al mensajero, no maten al mensajero
Swedish: skjut inte budbäraren
Turkish: elçiye zeval olmaz

References

Gregory Y. Titelman (1996) Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, ISBN 0-679-44554-4, page 71

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.