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What is the equivalent idiom in English to my mother tongue saying "It is like my mother-in-law has forgotten to wear her saree when she is happy about her new son's-in-law arrival at her house"?

It is used to express that somebody is in an unnecessary hurry when they need to do something soberly. The witty expression makes the expression very poignant and very effective. For example, if I forgot to bring my hall ticket in an unnecessary hurry, somebody may use the idiom against me laughingly because I have forgotten the most important thing for the exam.

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    @Jvlnarasimharao How is the situation humorous? There's a lot of cultural context that's probably relevant to making the quip funny. Is the MiL thought to be naked without her sari? Please add all these details in comments to your original question.
    – Mitch
    Commented Jul 25 at 14:14
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    Also, what is a 'hall ticket' and what does that have to do with an exam? is the ticket to prove that you are the student taking the exam (to prevent cheating)? (ie hall ticket may be a specific Indian English term, I just don't know what the concept it relates to is). Fun question, whatever the details.
    – Mitch
    Commented Jul 25 at 15:16
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    @Mitch I think the OP is looking for an idiom which captures a situation like this: Imagine a person who's taken care of every possible detail but the main thing (without which the other details taken care of are naturally rendered meaningless.) So the person in question becomes sorta a laughing stock for others because of this oversight. I'm sure you could come up with something worthwhile for such a scenario now.
    – user405662
    Commented Jul 25 at 15:29
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    Edits on this site are supposed to clarify posts, making their intended meaning easier to understand, and to incorporate additional information shared e.g. in comments (which are ephemeral). Rather than starting a heated debate about whose grammar and punctuation are better, I'd like to ask @Jvlnarasimharao a few questions: (1) Have the edits to your question made it easier to read and understand? (2) Does the edited question still match what you intended to ask? If the answer is yes to both, everything should be in order. If not, please edit your question yourself to fix it.
    – Ilmari Karonen
    Commented Jul 26 at 13:54
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    Yeah, "opinion based" was the wrong thing to close this under. "Lacks detail" or "lacks focus", yes, but not "opinion based"
    – No Name
    Commented Jul 28 at 7:19

5 Answers 5

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She would lose her head if it wasn't attached.

would lose one's head if it wasn't attached

(humorous) Said of a person who habitually mislays things.

Alternative forms

would lose one's head...

• if it wasn't bolted on
• if it wasn't glued on
• if it wasn't screwed on
• if it wasn't stuck on
• if it wasn't tied on
Wiktionary

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Lee Kedrie; A Thief in the Night (2006)

"That man would have lost his head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders. Do people still say that, Dave? I mean about people losing their heads." I tell her I used to know a man who said it all the time.
Ben Graham; Ending in Angles (2007)

Tracy Chesney; "I’d probably lose my head if it wasn’t attached to my body" at RoyseCityHeraldBanner.com (2008)

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  • Slightly more humorous version He/She would lose their head if it wasn't screwed on. Possible hints of Frankenstein's monster if applicable.
    – Peter Jennings
    Commented Jul 25 at 16:51
  • @PeterJennings I've added the alternative forms from the Wiktionary entry, which includes that one :)
    – DjinTonic
    Commented Jul 25 at 18:34
  • I use (in the UK) "I'd forget my brain if it wasn't screwed in!" to make light of my absentmindedness
    – Boneist
    Commented Jul 26 at 14:37
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    OP's situation seems unusual rather than habitual.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 26 at 15:46
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It is used to express that somebody is in an unnecessary hurry when they need to do something soberly

In Australia, "You'd forget your arse if it wasn't attached."

OP, it's somewhat unclear what the sense of the phrase is to be honest.

You may well be thinking of More hurry, less speed. or Haste makes waste as mentioned, or conceivably A stitch in time saves nine.

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    I would say 'More haste, less speed', personally. I'm not sure I've every heard the phrase with 'hurry'.
    – aantia
    Commented Jul 26 at 10:23
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    @aantia yeah it's interesting I've noticed those variations are regional. I've only ever heard "haste" used in the .makes waste one. And - I think but am not certain - "More hurry, less speed" is less/not used in the USA
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 26 at 12:00
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Sounds similar to: "She's running around like a chicken with it's head cut off."

It just means she's so busy she can hardly stay on top of everything. It is said with minimal humor (or perhaps minimal negativity). It would not generally be thought of as offensive. It's an old saying and sounds like something Grandma would have said because she did.

Answer from: American, male, 40s, lower-middle income.

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Try "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."

Inattentive multi-tasking to accomplish many goals often fails to achieve a single thing.

EDIT:
Having been drawn back to this answer, it comes to mind that "Haste makes waste", although lacking humour, may be analogous to the OP's statement.

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  • Are you quoting something? Please include a source or citation, and please see the help center for how to answer.
    – livresque
    Commented Jul 28 at 23:36
  • @livresque The quirky expression comes from a collection of proverbs encountered in the course of living long enough. Inquisitive and curious readers are welcome to investigate its origins to their own satisfaction. (Some sources credit Lewis Carroll, others say that is not the case. I do not claim any authority.)
    – user528375
    Commented Jul 29 at 0:21
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One idiom that could be used jocularly is

  • She's away with the fairies.

Urban Dictionary allows for the temporary abstracted state:

  • Away with the fairies

The expression means to be in a daydream, to be in one's own world, sometimes to be deep in thought and having one's gaze unfocused.

But care has to be exercised; it is often rather cruelly used for a more serious, lasting, condition:

  • away with the fairies [idiomatic]:

[1] Not all there; slightly crazy.

...

[Wiktionary]

  • away with the fairies [informal]:

out of touch with reality

[Collins]

  • away with the fairies:

Apparently of Irish-English origin, the phrase away with the fairies means giving the impression of being mad, distracted, or in a dreamworld.

[Pascal Tréguer; Word Histories]

  • away with the fairies:

When you hear the expression away with the fairies, you imagine someone rather useless. Someone chronically distracted, with a short attention span and no common sense. Someone – if we’re not being polite – a bit batty.

[Zoë Marriott; RLF]

......................

Probably safer is 'She's in a dream' (not 'in a dream world'):

be in a dream [UK]:

B2. to not notice things that are around you because you are thinking about something else.

[Cambridge Dictionary]

I'd say there is more a hint of euphoria than of apprehension, or even of just everyday distraction.

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    Not quite. I don't think this captures the nuance of the situation in question. It's simply an idiomatic way of saying that the person in question is absentminded. Not my dv, by the way.
    – user405662
    Commented Jul 25 at 15:31

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