the cobbler's wife is the worst shod
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Those who should be best served are often the worst off
Literally: the cobbler's wife has the worst shoes
Examples
The plumber's own pipes were always leaking, proving that the cobbler's wife is the worst shod
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “the cobbler's wife is the worst shod” mean?
Those who should be best served are often the worst off Literally: the cobbler's wife has the worst shoes
Is “the cobbler's wife is the worst shod” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.