proverb · Words worth keeping
Don’t try to teach your grand-mother to suck eggs.
Don’t try to teach your grand-mother to suck eggs.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The instruction warns against teaching a grandmother an assumed familiar task. As an analogy, it questions offering elementary advice to someone with relevant experience.
What the words are saying
The family role stands for familiarity, not proof that age settles expertise. A qualified application can ask what the listener already knows before explaining. The phrase does not provide a food practice or mean an experienced person cannot benefit from new information.
Everyday example
A helper asks about the listener’s experience before repeating introductory guidance.
When to use it
Use it to discuss advice matched to actual knowledge.
What it does not mean
Age does not guarantee expertise, and experienced people can still learn.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 371; PDF page 56
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.