the bread never falls but on its buttered side
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Things tend to go worse for those who are already unfortunate
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Điều tồi tệ thường xảy ra với những người đã bất hạnh
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: bread falling with buttered side down
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “the bread never falls but on its buttered side” mean?
Things tend to go worse for those who are already unfortunate Literally: bread falling with buttered side down
Is “the bread never falls but on its buttered side” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.