📜 «wet behind the ears»
Also known as: milk not yet dry on one's lips
Said of someone young and inexperienced.
«Wet behind the ears» is a set phrase for a young, inexperienced person. “The milk on his lips hasn't dried yet” is said about a young, inexperienced person. Usually it is said with irony or reproach, as if to say: you are still too young to judge or teach others.
The image is very simple. It is about mother's milk. After a feed, a baby has drops of milk left on its lips. If “the milk hasn't dried yet”, the person was a child not long ago. There is also a full version: “his mother's milk hasn't dried on his lips”. The phrase appears, for example, in Chekhov.
The opposite idea is “to eat a pood of salt together”, meaning to go through a lot together and gain experience. Other languages have similar phrases. In English people say “wet behind the ears”, in Polish “milk under the nose”, in Spanish “milk on the lips”. This is usually said about a young man who takes on a serious job without experience.
How it connects to milk
📜 «wet behind the ears» → image → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Related to
- 👶 Child, 🥛 Milk
- Part of
- 📜 Milk in culture and language
Frequently asked questions
What does “the milk on his lips hasn't dried” mean?
It is said about a young, inexperienced person, usually with irony.
What is the English equivalent of “milk on the lips”?
A similar phrase is “wet behind the ears”.
Similar
🦷 Milk teeth · 🌌 Milky Way · 📜 «a land of milk and honey» · 🌽 Milk stage · 📜 «peaches and cream» · 📜 «once bitten, twice shy»