to cast pearls before swine
- idiom
- Literature
:
dar perlas a los cerdos
- It's pointless to cast pearls before swine by sharing your knowledge with people who aren't willing to listen.
Examples
-
I have the feeling I'm casting pearls before swine.
Blog text (19) -
He felt frustrated after casting pearls before swine during the meeting, as no one appreciated his insights.
-
She realized that casting pearls before swine was unnecessary when her advice was ignored time after time.
Synonyms
Trying to persuade people who will not listen
How Wasteful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents are literally interpretable (cast = throw, pearls = valuable objects, swine = pigs), so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer a metaphor of wasting valuables on those who cannot appreciate them. However, the expression is a conventionalized, culturally/biblically rooted metaphor (swine = unappreciative people) and its idiomatic usage and nuance may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom cast pearls before swine comes from an old story where someone throws precious pearls to farm animals called swine that cannot value them and may trample them. So the phrase now means 'to offer something valuable to people who cannot or do not appreciate it'.