Meaning & Analysis
To be careful about letting small amounts of liquid out of a barrel's small tap (the spigot) while simultaneously allowing a large amount to gush out of the main opening (the bung-hole).
Insights
Misplaced Priorities
The proverb criticizes being frugal with small, insignificant expenses while being extravagant or wasteful in major matters, leading to a net loss. It's a classic illustration of false economy.
Ineffective Management
It serves as a warning against focusing on minor details while ignoring the bigger picture. This applies not just to finances but also to management, strategy, and personal time, where micromanagement of trivial issues can mask major systemic failures.
Self-Deception
The act of saving at the spigot while losing from the bung-hole highlights a form of self-deception, where one's small, virtuous acts of frugality are used to justify or ignore significant, ruinous behaviors.
Economic Symbolism
The imagery of a cask or barrel was universally understood in pre-modern economies, where such containers were essential for storing valuable commodities like wine, ale, and oil. The proverb draws its power from this everyday object, using the spigot and bung-hole to symbolize the vast difference between minor expenses and major, catastrophic losses.
Cultural Parallel
This proverb is a timeless critique of poor financial management, perfectly paralleled by the more common 'Penny-wise and pound-foolish'. It highlights a common human failing: focusing on trivial, easily controlled savings while ignoring substantial, systemic waste.
Psychological Insight
The proverb reveals a psychological tendency to focus on minor, manageable tasks to create an illusion of control, while avoiding larger, more daunting problems. This cognitive bias allows individuals to feel frugal and responsible while their overall financial situation deteriorates.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The entire proverb functions as a metaphor, where the barrel represents a system of resources (like a budget) and the spigot and bung-hole represent small and large expenditures.
Antithesis
The proverb's structure hinges on the sharp contrast between 'spare' and 'let it out', and the physical difference between the small 'spigot' and the large 'bung-hole', effectively highlighting the absurdity of the action.
Imagery
The concrete, almost comical image of carefully minding a small tap on a barrel that is gushing from its main opening makes the lesson vivid, memorable, and easily understood.
Transcription
Quotations
To hold in at the spiget, and let out at the bung-hole, viz. to be sparing in trifles, and lavish in the main.
*Ital.
To spare at the Spigot, and let it run out at the Bung-hole.
(and let out at the Bung Hole). *Spoken to them who are careful and penurious in some trifling Things, but neglective in the main Chance.
To spare at the Spiggot, and let run out at the Bung-hole.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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