translating "jalar la mugre"

Question

Hello friends,

I'm trying to understand this portion of a recent chat conversation. I don't have a lot of context for it, other than that two people were writing really cheesy notes of affection to each other, and then a third person interjected with the following.

"con razon a veces no contestas! ni ha de jalar la mugre!"

I should add that these three writers are all friends. So what I take to be a slight jab at the two lovebirds is only done in jest. Not sure if that helps inflect its meaning. The conversation is in Mexican-Spanish.

Here's my best to translate, but I have a strong feeling that the second clause is being used figuratively, and it's meaning is evading me.

"Sometimes there's a reason not to respond. nor to eat dirt!"

Any help or suggestion? Is "to haul dirt" an idiom or is it being used metaphorically here? Is it possible it means something akin to "don't air your dirty laundry" or something like that?

Another problem I'm having is the subject. Is it addressing the last person in the conversation, like "there's a reason YOU don't answer" ... or is it more like the general "one" as in "there's a reason one doesn't respond" ...

Thanks for your thoughts and expertise.

Answer 1

I would lean toward your latter guess, "don't air out your dirty laundry"... they phrase could be something like, "There's reason you don't answer sometimes! Not to air out your dirty laundry!"

Answer 2

Depends of where are they from.

Answer 3

These speakers are from Tijuana, Mexico.