Wah gwaan bad a mawnin cyaa come good a evenin

proverb wah GWAAN bad a MAW-nin cyaa come GOOD a EE-vnin wa ɡwaːn bad a ˈmaːnɪn kjaː kʌm ɡʊd a ˈiːvnɪn

Also spelled wah gwaan bad a morning cyaah come good a evening

“what goes bad in the morning can't come good in the evening”

'Wah gwaan bad a mawnin cyaa come good a evenin' — what has gone bad in the morning cannot come good in the evening. Something that starts off badly is unlikely to turn out well, the proverb holds: a poor beginning tends to set the course for the whole undertaking, and trouble at the outset rarely rights itself by the end. It is a sober observation that first steps matter, and that a venture soured from the start seldom sweetens as the day wears on.

  • Di project mess up from day one; wah gwaan bad a mawnin cyaa come good a evenin.

    The project was a mess from day one; a bad start rarely ends well.

  • Dem start di union pon a lie — wah gwaan bad a mawnin cyaa come good a evenin.

    They started the union on a lie — what begins badly seldom comes right.

  • It never feel right from di start; wah gwaan bad a mawnin cyaa come good a evenin.

    It never felt right from the start; a bad beginning bodes a bad end.

A day-long image: the morning sets the day, and what spoils early is not expected to right itself by evening — a figure for how beginnings shape outcomes.

Used to express pessimism that a badly-started venture will improve.