English in a Minute: Bite the Hand That Feeds You

Welcome to English in a Minute! 

We sometimes eat with our hands. But why would you bite the hand that feeds you?  

A: Boy, Olivia is about to do something really stupid at the community meeting tonight.  
D: Uh oh. Olivia…what is she going to do now?  
A: She plans to speak out against that new housing development. 
D: But Olivia works for the company that’s building it. 
A: Exactly. She is biting the hand that feeds her.  

If you “bite the hand that feeds you,” you criticize or hurt someone you depend on. We often use this expression to describe a situation where someone is doing something that works against their own interests.   And that’s English in a Minute.

[nun-chan]

We have utterly the same expression in our indigenous island.
"getting bitten hand by cherished dog", but almost all of dogs never actually bite, they sometimes play-bite with their master (we can't find stray dog since half a century ago because our ancestor'd bite/eat/devour). We sometimes play-bite/love-bite our pet, we'd express this as 'sweet-bite'.

[davidhill]

You often bite the hand that feeds you if the party you depend on goes against your better judgment, is imposing false or oppressive narratives on you, has subscribed to a questionable ideology or theology, or is punishing for trivial reasons.

[getpaceai]

The cat image spoke to me 🤣 My cat definitely bites the hand that feeds him... literally 😅 Can you make one for "as right as rain"?

[MissDoan-go]

My cat bit me like that everyday even though I feed him

[herikasenagoncalves]

In Brazil we use to say: "está cuspindo no prato que comeu" .