Spare at the spigot, and let out the bunghole

[worder]

meaning, s'il vous plait, thanks.

[FredPuli]

Brewer's (an apt name) Dictionary of Phrase and Fable first gave this as the neat " To be spare at the spigot and spill at the bung". The image is assuredly the same. It means "to be penny wise and pound foolish" another English expression ; in other words to be parsimonious, careful, in small matters whilst being blind to or uncontrolled in your waste or extravagance elsewhere at the same time. The spigot is the small tap in a hole in a beer barrel; you may measure out the beer by the drop; the bung is in the large hole, by which you might readily lose gallons