One does not WASH one’s dirty linen in publicIt is unwise to publicize private disputes or scandals. The saying is very often used in the
metaphorical phrase to wash one’s dirty linen in public. Cf. Fr. c’est en famille, ce n’estpas
enpublique, qu’on lave son linge sale, one washes one’s dirty linen amongst the family, not in
public.
1809 T. G. FESSENDEN Pills 45 The man has always had a great itch for scribbling,
and has mostly been so fortunate as to procure somebody who pitied his ignorance, to
‘wash his dirty linen’. 1867 TROLLOPE Last Chronicle of Barset II. xliv. I do not like to
trouble you with my private affairs;—there is nothing.. so bad as washing one’s dirty
linen in public. 1886 E. J. HARDY How to be Happy though Married i. Married people..
should remember the proverb about the home-washing of soiled linen. 1942 ‘P.
WENTWORTH’ Danger Point xlviii. The case.. will be dropped. .. There’s nothing to be
gained by washing a lot of dirty linen in public. 1980 T. HOLME Neapolitan Steak 199
Her look raked him from head to toe. ‘One does not wash one’s Dirty Linen in Public,
commissario.’ discretionwash see also one HAND washes the other.WASTE not, want notWant is variously used in the senses ‘lack’ and ‘desire’. Another proverb making the
connection between waste and want is WILFUL waste makes woeful want.
1772 WESLEY Letter 10 Aug. (1931) V. 334 he will waste nothing; but he must
want nothing. 1872 T. HARDY Under Greenwood Tree I. I. viii. Helping her to vegetable
she didn’t want, and when it had nearly alighted on her plate, taking it across for his own
use, on the plea of waste not, want not. 1941 C. MACKENZIE Red Tapeworm xxii. ‘The
lorry’s full of children as well as rubbish.’ .. ‘And what is printed on the banner?’..
‘Waste Not Want Not.’ 2002 Washington Times 8 Apr. B5 Your cousin was a practical
woman. ‘Waste not, want not.’ thrift; wastewaste (noun) see HASTE makes waste; WILFUL waste makes woeful want.A WATCHED pot never boils