Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«En casa de herrero, cuchillo de palo.»
Word for word
In the blacksmith’s house, a wooden knife.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: The shoemaker’s children go barefoot.
Professionals often neglect at home the very thing they do for a living.
Hear it in a sentence
Es dentista y su hijo nunca quiere lavarse los dientes: en casa de herrero, cuchillo de palo.
She’s a dentist and her son never wants to brush his teeth — the shoemaker’s children go barefoot.
Why learn dichos?
Proverbs like this one are everywhere in spoken Spanish — dropped mid-conversation, usually just the first half, with the rest left for you to complete. Recognizing them is one of the fastest ways to sound less like a textbook and follow real speech. Every Lingocito edition signs off with the dicho del día, so you meet one a day next to news written at your exact level.