he who smelt it dealt it

English

Alternative forms

whoever smelt it, dealt it
you smelt it, you dealt it

Proverb

he who smelt it dealt it

(colloquial, originally) A person who calls attention to or complains about a fart is likely trying to pretend it wasn't his or her own.
(colloquial, by extension) Used to suggest that a person calling attention to or complaining about a given problem may in fact be the source of the problem.

Usage notes

Non-rhyming variants with smelled rather than smelt are almost completely unattested, even in forms of English that otherwise prefer smelled.

Translations

a person calling attention to or complaining about a fart

Esperanto: kiu ĝin flaris, faris
French: premier senteur, premier péteur
German: Wer den Furz zuerst gerochen, dem ist er aus dem Arsch gekrochen.
Japanese: 言い出しっ屁 (いいだしっぺ, iidashippe)

Lithuanian: vagie, kepurė dega
Russian: кто признался тот и обосрался (kto priznalsja tot i obosralsja)
Slovene: kdor ga zavoha, ta ga tudi spoha

See also

protest too much

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