cobbler, keep to your last
- idiom
- Archaic
:
zapatero, a tus zapatos
- Whenever I am tempted to give legal advice, I remember the saying: cobbler, keep to your last.
Examples
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He ignored the principle of cobbler, keep to your last and soon found himself out of his depth.
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Some politicians could benefit from the rule: cobbler, keep to your last.
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Remember the saying, cobbler, keep to your last!
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Don't cobbler, keep to your last!
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It's best to follow the saying cobbler, keep to your last and let the experts handle complex issues.
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During the meeting, he advised the group to remember the phrase: cobbler, keep to your last before exploring new territories.
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While discussing the project, she emphasized the importance of cobbler, keep to your last to avoid unnecessary complications.
Synonyms
35
5.8
Tell someone not to ask about or get involved in other people's lives
Only work in the area you know well
To not ask about or get involved in someone's private matters
Surface Forms
Morphology
cobbler, + keep + to + your + last
The proverb advises a cobbler to 'keep to your last' — i.e. stick to the shoemaker's form or, by extension, to one’s trade — so if a learner knows the specialized noun 'last' (a shoemaker's foot-shaped block) and the literal sense, the intended meaning can be inferred. However, that specialized sense and the proverbial usage are culture- and profession-specific and not predictable from more common word senses, so it is only partially transparent to typical B1 learners.
Etymology
The saying cobbler, keep to your last comes from shoemakers. A cobbler used a wooden foot called a last to make shoes, so telling a cobbler to 'keep to your last' meant 'stick to what you know', and today the phrase warns people not to give advice outside their skill.